Australian Local Government Association Ltd, Canberra, ACT

One quarter of total local government revenue comes from user charges. Overall, grants and subsidies from the Australian and state/territory governments account for around 10 percent of total revenue. For some rural and remote councils where own-source revenue raising capacity is limited, grants can account for more than 50% of council revenue. The Australian Government provides financial assistance grants to local government. These are paid to state governments for distribution to local government via state grants commissions. Councils are able to apply for funding under a range of Australian Government programs, such as the Road Safety Black Spot program, Roads to Recovery, Bridges Renewal Program and the Building Stronger Region fund. Local government assets have a net worth of more than $333 billion (2012-13).