KINGSTON Council posted a surplus of $42 million in the last financial year.
The healthy surplus, which includes grants and contributions from other levels of government, was revealed in council’s annual report published last week. The report read that the result was “$30.1 million favourable to the adopted budget of $11.8 million and was also $16.4 million favourable compared to the $25.5 million surplus reported in 2024–25.”
Kingston Council reported spending $93.6 million on infrastructure projects in the 2025/2026 financial year, $9.9 million below the approved budget. The annual report read that “the overall variance to budget is primarily due to the timing of project delivery, with a number of projects continuing into 2026–27.” $47.3 million was spent on Mordi Aquatic Centre works in the last financial year.
Kingston Council CEO Peter Bean said “over the past year, we continued to deliver for our community despite ongoing cost-of-living pressures and a challenging operating environment. We invested in essential infrastructure, progressed major projects and continued planning for Kingston’s future while carefully managing council’s long-term financial sustainability. Among our achievements this year was the continued progress of the new Mordi Aquatic Centre, our largest-ever capital project, which remained on time and on budget throughout the financial year.”
“Our people deliver more than 100 services that support our community every day. From maintaining parks and open spaces to caring for older residents, supporting young families, running library programs, collecting waste and delivering major infrastructure projects, our focus is on providing services our community can rely on,” Bean said.
The annual report also outlined that non-monetary contributions of $34.1 million contributed to the surplus. The report read that the figure “was over 100 per cent favourable to the budget due to Infrastructure Assets gifted by Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority Rail (VIDA), formerly known as the Level Crossing Removal Project.”
In a message to ratepayers in the annual report, Kingston mayor Cr Georgina Oxley said “the year also brought some unique challenges. We continued to work constructively with the state-appointed municipal monitors as they undertook their role, and following the resignation of Cr Tess Law, Council operated with ten councillors for part of the year. Rather than seeing these as obstacles, we embraced them as opportunities to reflect, grow and further strengthen our collective leadership capability.”
“Despite ongoing financial pressures, council adopted a responsible budget that balanced sound financial management with continued investment in services and infrastructure,” Cr Oxley said. “There were many positive milestones throughout the year. Through the Nepean Partnership we strengthened collaboration with Frankston City Council. In addition, our highly regarded AccessCare service expanded to welcome older residents previously supported by Frankston. We also celebrated the management of more than 100,000 trees across Kingston, officially opened the Kennedy Centre community facilities and recognised the outstanding contribution of volunteers and community leaders through our community awards. Our community also came together through Mordi Fest, Youth Fest, the Spring Fair, Pet Expo, Carols by Kingston and our citizenship ceremonies.”
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 27 October 2026