This financial year we’re spending on climate action, local shopping strips, sports, kids and everyday essentials.
On 30 June councillors adopted our Budget 2025–26. It outlines how we’ll deliver on your priorities over the financial year, with projected spending also over the next 4 financial years.
Everything we’ve put money towards lines up with what our community said they want, as outlined in our Boroondara Community Plan (2021–31).
We also consulted with the community earlier this year in developing this Budget. ‘I thank everyone who took the time to share their views,’ says Boroondara’s Mayor, Cr Sophie Torney. ‘Your voices matter – and Council has listened.’
Making our community resilient to the effects of climate change is a strong Budget focus. Read more about this in our Climate action: our plan for the next 2 years article.
For more on the Budget see our Budget 2025–26 page.
Budget 2025–26 highlights
Staying healthy and connected with pavilion upgrades
We’re investing more than $27 million over 4 years to refurbish, upgrade or redevelop 7 sporting pavilions across Boroondara. This includes the pavilions in Greythorn Park in Balwyn North and Hartwell South Reserve in Camberwell.
These upgrades improve the space for local sporting clubs and will ‘level the playing field’ by encouraging women and girls to play sport.
Find out more on our parks and sportsground improvements page.
Better shopping areas and support for local businesses
We’re making it easier to start, run and grow businesses in Boroondara – and we’re also upgrading some popular shopping areas.
Over the next 4 years we’ll spend a total of $22.54 million including:
- $4.91 million for the Shopping Centre Improvement Program and $247,575 for the North Balwyn Village upgrade investigation and design
- $8.9 million for a new public plaza in Camberwell Junction
- $6.93 million for stage one of the Glenferrie Road streetscape upgrade
- $1.8 million to upgrade the Columbia Street laneway near Swinburne University
- operational costs to improve our concierge service for local businesses.
Children and young people
We’re building a better tomorrow for children and young people by funding early childhood education facilities like Kew Traffic School and Boroondara Youth Hub. We’re also supporting programs like Maternal and Child Health, immunisation and our Boroondara Youth Leadership Day.
Playgrounds help kids to grow up happy. We’re allocating $7.74 million to upgrade local playgrounds across 4 years.
Local kindergartens will be upgraded, with funding this financial year of $1.51 million for Glass Street and $1.13 million for Estrella Preschool.
For more information on playground works, see our upgrading playgrounds page.
Excellence in the everyday
Our spending remains focused on improving your daily life.
Next year we’ll invest $16.27 million to replace, refurbish and repair roads, footpaths and kerbs across our city. We’re supporting active travel by improving bike lanes, shared paths and footpaths.
We’re better serving our community with $9.16 million to upgrade Kew and Hawthorn libraries.
We’re continuing our Summer in the Park events, which provide free entertainment for locals, attract visitors and support artists.
We’re working to make our city open and welcoming to people of all abilities and backgrounds. Programs to support our diverse community also feature in this Budget. We’ll have $125,630 for men’s wellbeing and LGBTQIA+ community activities, and $60,000 for accessibility improvements like ground tactiles and hearing loops at our key community venues.
Funding Boroondara: what your rates pay for
Rates are Council’s biggest source of income, making up 77% of our total revenue in 2025–26.
They help fund the essential services and facilities that make Boroondara a great place to live – from footpaths and playgrounds to arborists, waste truck drivers and maternal and child health nurses.
We’re committed to delivering high-quality services, programs and infrastructure. The figures below show how we allocate and use your rates to support all our community members.
What do your rates cover?
For every $100, we deliver:
$38.01 - Capital works and priority projects
$14.03 - Environment and waste management
$9.88 - Parks, gardens and sportsgrounds
$7.73 - Health and family services
$2.27 - Engineering and traffic management
$5.09 - Local laws enforcement
$4.07 - Roads, footpaths, safety and drainage
$3.81 - Communications and customer service
$7.25 - Libraries, arts and economic development, supporting local businesses
$1.07 - Leisure, recreation and civic centres
$1.56 - Rates and property services
$5.23 - Planning and building