December 2026 Update

The City of Greater Geelong will adopt a new budget development process for the 2026–27 financial year, allowing for earlier and more meaningful community input.

The new approach invites the community to help shape the direction of Council spending much earlier in the budget cycle.

Under the plan, a Budget Discussion Paper will be released for community consultation in mid-February, providing the community with the opportunity to leave comments and submissions until April 2026. A Community Panel will provide a more deeply informed recommendation of how to prioritise projects.

Bringing the community consultation into the budgetary process earlier will ensure that the community can shape the budget from a more fundamental level, rather than providing comments on a process that is almost complete.

The submissions will then be carefully reviewed as the final budget is developed, before targeted engagement with relevant community stakeholders from mid-April until the final budget is presented for endorsement by Council before 30 June.

Councillors will continue to engage in the usual listening posts, providing an additional channel for the community to express their feedback.

The new model for engagement has already been successfully implemented in other councils across Victoria, following reforms introduced by the Local Government Act 2020.

Click on the +Follow button above to be notified when budget submissions open in February.

Do you or your community group have a new project or initiative you're passionate about and would like Council to consider in the 2026-27 budget? Submissions will open in February 2026, follow this page to be keep updated!

Please note:

Projects that were previously submitted for consideration in the 2025-26 budget process, and did not progress, do not need to be resubmitted this year. These proposed projects are already included for consideration in the 2026-27 budget. See list of 2025-26 submissions below.