There is no doubt this term has been sobering and challenging from the start.
Queensland councils have been working tirelessly to help lead their communities through the COVID-19 pandemic, to protect local jobs and to help provide relief to households and businesses.The LGAQ has been right there alongside you, doing what we can to make sure no community is left behind during these times. We have advocated to secure additional state and federal funding, negotiated for better outcomes in new laws affecting the sector and provided daily support to councils as you navigate the COVID-19 pandemic alongside your communities.
And soon, we will be returning almost $5 million to members through a rebate on insurance premiums provided through mutual schemes LGM and LGW. This will be the third year in a row that the rebate will offset total aggregate subscriptions and most, if not all, the cost of LGAQ membership for individual LGMS scheme members. That is $4.9 million coming back to members. It is more proof it really does pay to be a member of your Association.
On top of this, the LGAQ Board and LGAQ Policy executive have approved the freezing of member service fees and subscriptions with no increase this financial year. Any local variances will only be due to changing relativities between councils as determined by the application of the LGAQ membership formula, and for our website customers who have previously agreed to a price path for the new Jadu service. The LGAQ will soon be on the road to provide the first elected member updates of the term and these two will be delivered at no cost to member councils.
We are your association and we are here to help you. It is important that we make sure you are maximising the services we offer to you as part of your membership fees. To do that, we want to make sure you know exactly what services you have at your disposal.
To that end, the LGAQ will be establishing a new internal team that will be charged with helping your council get maximum value from your membership. This new team will be dedicated to informing you of the myriad of opportunities available to you, whether it be through member advocacy, tools for streamlining operations or achieving significant cost savings.
We are committed to ensuring you can leverage every membership opportunity to advance the aspirations of your council and your community.