Operational Plan and Budget 2026-2027

An operational plan is a detailed, one-year action guide that breaks down the broader, four-year delivery program into projects, activities, budgets and resources for the upcoming financial year.

A delivery program is a four-year plan that details a council's key activities, projects, and funding to achieve the long-term vision in Community Strategic Plan (CSP).

All of Council’s expenditure and projects align with the community vision and goals outlined in Community Strategic Plan.

The number, types and locations of capital works actions varies from year to year across the city. In some instances, there might be one-off larger projects with construction spread out over a number of years, while other areas of the city might see a large number of smaller projects constructed. Capital works projects are undertaken if they:

• are in a plan or strategy that has been through a community engagement process and adopted by Council
• demonstrate social and/or economic benefits to the community
• are of an asset condition that requires work be completed
• have been prioritised following a multi-criteria analysis
• consider issues of sustainability and equity across the broader community
• demonstrate project feasibility and value for money, including full lifecycle costs
• reduce the infrastructure backlog as a long-term benefit
• are required for population growth and development.

Prioritisation of projects is also impacted by receipt and conditions of external grant funding and internal resourcing constraints.

You can make a submission by Monday 20 April using one of the methods below:

• Online submission form 
• Email [email protected] with the subject heading ‘Operational Plan and budget 2026-2027 submission’
• Write to Lake Macquarie City Council Attn: Strategy and Performance, Box 1906, Hunter Region Mail Centre, NSW, 2310.

Your submission can be as concise or as long as you wish.

Ideally, you will express your level of support for the proposal and provide detailed and specific feedback. The feedback will be reviewed by staff and later presented to Council to make an informed decision.

Feedback may result in changes being made to the draft Operational Plan and budget 2026-2027 prior to a report being prepared for Council.

You will be notified again, prior to Council considering the matter, which will include a link to the Council report containing a summary of submissions and how feedback was considered.

The draft Operational Plan and budget 2026-2027 will be placed on public exhibition from 24 March until 20 April 2026. 

You can review the plan and make a submission on Council’s online community engagement platform, Shape Lake Mac 

Come chat to the project team:

Toronto Library, Monday 30 March, 9.30am-12.30pm

Glendale City Centre (outside Woolworths), Thursday 16 April, 3-6pm

Caves Beach, Saturday 11 April, 10am-1pm

Hard copies of the draft documents are available at Lake Mac libraries