Ratepayers, residents and the broader South Australian community will have access to unprecedented levels of information about their local council’s performance through a new government-established website.

Planning and Local Government Minister Vickie Chapman said Councils in Focus would help people to better understand what council is spending money on, where that revenue comes from and how it benefits their community.

“Councils spend billions of dollars each year on a variety of services, including roads, transport, environment, recreation, economic development and libraries,” Minister Chapman said.

“This way, information on where the money comes from and where it goes will be available to the public for the first time through one simple, easy-to-access portal.

Minister Chapman said information available to the public would include details on rates individual councils charge, grants they receive and other sources of funding, where councils spend money and how much and each council’s financial position and performance.

Ratepayers will be able to see how their council has changed over a five-year period, compare their council to similar councils and compare their council to the state average.

Individual councils can also make comments about the information that relates to them, to include more context about the data. All the data will be pulled in from existing sources so it’s not diverting council resources.

Visit www.councilsinfocus.sa.gov.au/ to find out more.