The mayor, in a video blog posted on Hilltops Council's Facebook page, said council will review all of its expenditure to "make sure we're getting the best bang for our buck".

He acknowledged that council's financial position is "not sustainable", with council operating at a loss, without grants and contributions, each financial year since the amalgamation.

The December quarterly budget review revealed Hilltops Council's forecast deficit for the current financial year to be about $6.64 million.

"The simple way of putting it is there's more going out the door than what's coming in the door. That needs to stop, that's not sustainable," Cr Ingram said.

"There's a number of items contributed to that deficit number. One of the big ticket items is depreciation. Depreciation is a big number. In a perfect world you'd be putting money away each year to fund your deficit which you'd use to update and maintain your infrastructure. That's in a perfect world, and we're far from that at the moment."

Council is looking at a strategy to "stop the flow" of an ongoing deficit.

Mayor Ingram said the strategy includes increased charges, reduction of services, the sale of underperforming council assets, and a reduction in staff.

The mayor also said qualified council staff could be utilised on capital projects to reduce wages.

"There will be some increases in charges with water alone because Goldenfields [Water] is increasing the cost and that's our supplier of water," Cr Ingram said.

"There's the opportunity to look at the sale of underperforming assets. Land and buildings that aren't returning commercial value to council.

"The matter of reduction in levels of service. No one wants to see that, but it's all part of a strategy that is being looked at. Another part of that strategy is to utilise staff on capital projects. Where the wages of workers comes out of grant funds.

"The one thing no one wants to look at or talk about is a reduction in staff numbers. That would be terrible to see that happen, we don't want to see that, so we need to work around it.

"On that note, we're going to review all of our expenditure and look at where the money is going and make sure we're getting the best bang for our buck. That includes the number of consultants we use, the costs add up using consultants. If we have the professional staff in house let's do this work in house and keep consultant costs down.

"We need the community to rest assured council are working very hard to make that financial position better."

Hilltops Council's borrowings is about $19 million.

The mayor highlighted, in the video blog, that council's up-to-date financial statements can be viewed on its website under plans and policies.

He said considering council's assets are worth about $640 million, the borrowings figure is not a "real reason of concern".

Cr Ingram said he'd be advocating for further borrowings if council was in a position "he'd like to see it in".

"We'll talk about debt. Or, as the terminology used in council's financial statement, borrowings. Hilltops Council has borrowings of just under $19 million. $13 million of that is in relation to sewer and water infrastructure upgrades, $1.5 million relates to the community and joint-use library, and the rest of the remaining funds are for other projects scattered around the council area," Cr Ingram said.

"On assets of $640 million and borrowings of just less than $19 million, that is no real reason of concern.

"When we need to upgrade our infrastructure and failed infrastructure we need to borrow. If council was in the position I'd like to see it in, and with interest rates the way they are, I'd be advocating for more borrowings."

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