Overview
Eligible items
Non-eligible items
Eligibility overview
Emergency debris cleanup
For cleanup type work (e.g. debris removal, tree pruning, drain clearing etc, items usually completed in the initial 21 day emergency response phase): Financial assistance is only available to cover additional resources council had to apply to perform the work (e.g. overtime hours, extra shifts, backfilling positions, agency staff, contract services etc).
Work performed by council within normal operating hours using its usual council's salary and wages staff and equipment is not claimable. Councils should submit documentation to the Department of Services, Technology and Administration (DSTA), formerly known as Commerce, that demonstrates the costs they are claiming are additional to normal operating costs, as defined above.
Restoration work
For asset repair and replacement type work (e.g. building structures, drainage works, fencing, rock protection, levees, recreational equipment, parking areas, playing field repairs etc that may take many months to complete): Financial assistance is available to cover actual restoration costs, regardless of whether it is performed by council staff and equipment or using contract services and regardless of whether it is performed in standard hours or by using overtime or extra shifts.
Insurance and self help
Assistance is not to supplant or operate as a disincentive for self-help by way of either commercial insurance or appropriate strategies of disaster mitigation and asset maintenance and planning. Councils are expected to take out prudent insurance cover, and assistance given under the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements is net of any insurance recoveries, including insurance excess. Future increases in insurance premiums brought about by council claiming against their existing policy or policies for a particular disaster are not covered by the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery guidelines.
Damage to any asset must be directly attributed to the declared disaster event and should not include normal maintenance operations, particularly for those assets which were in a poorly maintained state at the time of the disaster. Council may be required to supply records of maintenance on items and assets in question.
Insurance and insurance excess is not covered. Council must claim on insurance any item that is damaged. The financial assistance will cover the gap or difference between the insurance payout (including the insurance excess) and the total cost to restore the item.
NDRRA Cover = Cost to restore item - (Insurance claim + Insurance excess)
Uninsured items
Restoration of damage to uninsured council assets will be considered. However claims relating to items that could reasonably be expected to be insured, such as major council buildings may be disallowed as financial assistance is not to take the place of normal insurances.
Betterment not eligible
Assistance is provided to councils to restore a public asset to the equivalent of its pre-disaster standard, subject to current planning and developmental controls and building standards. Additional costs incurred by councils beyond that level, to restore or replace an asset to a higher standard (improvement or betterment), must be borne by councils and are not eligible for assistance.
However, if the damaged asset is identified as not meeting current legislative requirements/standards then the cost of works to achieve the current standard is eligible.
Trading undertakings
Council trading undertakings that recover less than 50% of their costs may be eligible for financial assistance. Councils are to provide DSTA with statements regarding; a trading undertaking's production and recovery costs; the extent council has recourse to reimbursement via any lease/rental agreement; and relevant insurance policies.
Eligible public trading undertakings include local government bodies or other bodies which provides community, social or economic service free of charge outside the normal market mechanism.
However it excludes a public financial undertaking which is primarily engaged in financial transactions in the market involving the incurring of liabilities and the acquisition of financial assets. It also excludes a public trading undertaking which is permanently engaged in the production of goods and services for sale in the market with the intention of recovering all or a significant proportion of its operating costs.
Crown reserves
Claims relating to crown reserves that are entrusted to councils should be referred to the Department of Lands who has responsibility for managing financial assistance relating to these areas.
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Eligible items
Debris cleanup
Emergency cleanup of trees, branches, leaves and other debris from council maintained public areas such as roads, accessways, parks, gardens, drains (including mud from man made surfaces). It does not include debris from private property (including rubbish piled on public property from residences and businesses). If damage is incurred to private property by falling council trees it is not eligible as it will be covered by council's insurance or the owner's insurance.
Tree replacement
Should trees need to be replaced to maintain the treescape and ambiance of an area an allowance of $3 per tree will be allowed in the financial assessment of the restoration works.
Stormwater assets
Restoration of stormwater assets is eligible. However, it is the asset and the damaged area immediately surrounding the asset that is eligible.
This includes the restoration of scour around the asset only if the asset is in danger of failure. It does not include the natural channel downstream of the damaged asset. This section is considered as natural erosion or a natural erosion process to a watercourse, and is therefore not eligible under the program.
Clearance of blockages and debris removal is eligible. However, silt removal deposited by an estuarine environment interfacing with the stormwater system is not liable to funding.
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Other drainage works
Restoration of headwalls and man-made structures along a river, providing they are not protecting or part of a trading undertaking.
Levee repairs and flood mitigation works
Damage to flood levees including inspections and investigations to determine the extent of the damage and the best means of its restoration.
Clean up and repair of flood drains, but does not include re-shaping.
Restoration of floodgates or floodflaps only if council is solely responsible for the maintenance of the asset.
Retaining walls and rock protection
Retaining walls and rock protection are eligible items.
Recreational facilities and play equipment
Facilities and equipment at council owned parks and reserves and sporting fields is eligible for assistance. However major council sporting complexes and venues that seek to recover their costs from memberships and public admission etc are not eligible for assistance, for instance swimming centres, golf clubs, football stadiums.
Fencing
Repair and replacement of council fencing is eligible for assistance.
Emergency works to prevent public health risk
Emergency repair work of a temporary nature in order to restore essential services (such as water supply and sewerage works) may be eligible if undertaken to prevent an immediate and extreme public health risk to the public, for example emergency repair of a broken service pipeline, or emergency sewage pumpout. However, permanent restoration of these services is not eligible for assistance.
Council owned waste processing centres
All costs associated with operating council owned waste processing centres that can be directly attributable to the declared disaster are eligible (but not foreshortened site life costs or foregone income or opportunity type costs).
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Non-eligible items
Council normal operations costs
Normal maintenance and administration costs are not eligible for assistance. For example salaries, day labour costs, council's plant costs, other on-going administrative type expenditure, which would have been incurred even if no damage had been sustained.
However, additional costs (actual expenditure and not charge-out rates) over and above normal operating budgets may be regarded as eligible expenditure. (e.g. plant hire, overtime, additional contractor work).
Loss of income
There is no provision for councils to claim compensation or loss of income.
Long term and partially pre-existing damage
Damage caused to assets by prolonged existence to climate elements and not as direct result of a natural disaster event(s) is considered to be a normal maintenance liability and is not eligible for assistance.
Tip fees
Council tip fees charge for the disposal of debris and mulching fees for processing debris are not eligible.
Betterment
Financial assistance is not available to upgrade damaged assets, only reinstatement to their pre-disaster condition.
Work in progress
Repairs of damage to council works in progress are not eligible as these are assumed to be covered by insurance.
Inadequate design and/or maintenance
The restoration of damage that can be wholly or partly attributed to inadequate design, inadequate maintenance or faulty construction, is not eligible.
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Motor vehicles and equipment
Damage in whole or part to motor vehicles and equipment owned or hired by council, including insurance, fuels, tolls and all other running costs are not eligible.
Expenditure used to purchase, maintain and run all capital works items is not eligible, for example, chainsaws, hazard warning lights, personal safety equipment, first aid kits, eye shields, small tools, maintenance equipment, vehicle control barriers etc.
Oncosts
Non-statutory council oncosts are not eligible.
Beach, lake and streambank restoration
Damage to beaches and dunes is not covered as storm damage to the dune area is considered to be a natural process. However council beach access and dune protection infrastructure is eligible for assistance.
The cleanup of council patrolled public beaches (and up to 500 metres either side) from storm debris, only in the event of public risk. Isolated beaches will be treated on their merits and should be referred to DSTA in the first instance. Cleanup should be in accordance with environmental guidelines.
Debris cleanup of river and lake foreshores and adjacent areas is eligible providing they are classified or zoned as a recreational area.
Debris cleanup and reinstatement of natural riverbanks and foreshores is not eligible as this damage is considered an ongoing natural realignment process.
Clearing streams of silt build-ups, snags and natural blockages, clearing of debris around bridge pylons, reshaping of natural river or natural storm water channels and repairs to a natural channel or watercourse leading from a stormwater asset are not eligible.
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Bushfire access trails and walking tracks
Clearing of fire trails and walking tracks of bushfire and/or flood debris is not eligible.
Landslip
Landslip is not eligible for assistance as it is considered in a similar manner to the natural coastal erosion of beaches and sand dunes.
Water supply and sewerage services
These are considered trading undertakings recovering their costs from rates and charges and therefore not eligible for financial assistance.
However, where there is a major public health or environmental risk, for example the repair of a water or sewer main so as to avoid a major health hazard, this would be eligible.
Emergency pump-out at sewage treatment plants is eligible. However the repair of a riverbank to protect the water main from breaking is not eligible. Asset management plans must be in place for the items damaged or funding may be declined for this and/or future disaster events to repair these items.
Proactive/preventative work
Work such as laying down fences, securing cricket sight- screens, flood protection sandbagging, clearing firebreaks, patrolling and closing floodprone roads and bridges before and during a declared emergency is not eligible.
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