New Farm Voters Face Two Ballot Measures on Community Services Funding This November

New Farm residents will be asked to vote on two separate ballot measures this coming November, both tied directly to the funding of community services that thousands of locals use or depend on. The first measure proposes a dedicated social services levy to sustain mental health outreach programs currently operating out of the Merthyr Road community hub. The second asks voters to approve a community housing assistance fund, drawing on a modest annual appropriation from the municipal general budget. Together, the measures represent the most significant local referendum on social spending in New Farm in over a decade.

The timing reflects genuine fiscal pressure. The community services directorate reported in its June 2026 quarterly budget update that two of the five outreach programs currently operating in the New Farm precinct face funding gaps totalling approximately $340,000 for the 2026-27 financial year. Program coordinators have publicly flagged that without a stable, voter-approved revenue stream, case worker positions could be reduced from the current roster of 11 full-time equivalent staff to as few as seven by March 2027. Local advocates note that any reduction in frontline capacity would fall hardest on residents in the lower Brunswick Street corridor, where demand for crisis referral services has risen by roughly 22 percent since 2023, according to the directorate's own service usage data.

What Each Measure Would Actually Change for Residents

Ballot Measure 1, the Social Services Levy, is structured as a flat annual charge of $48 per residential ratepayer within the New Farm precinct boundaries, with a reduced rate of $24 applying to concession cardholders. The legislation governing the measure states that revenue must be quarantined exclusively for community mental health coordination, crisis accommodation referrals, and family support casework. Under the proposal, the Merthyr Road hub's operating hours would be extended from the current four days per week to a full five-day schedule, and a new mobile outreach position would be funded to conduct welfare checks in the Bowen Terrace and Barker Street areas.

Ballot Measure 2 concerns the Community Housing Assistance Fund, which would direct $1.2 million annually from the general municipal budget into a ring-fenced account administered by a nine-member community oversight panel. Policy analysts familiar with similar fund structures elsewhere say ring-fencing of this kind prevents the money from being redirected during budget shortfalls, giving service providers more certainty when entering multi-year rental assistance contracts. The fund is projected to help approximately 180 New Farm households per year access emergency rental support or transitional housing referrals, based on current waitlist and throughput figures published by the housing services unit in May 2026.

What Happens Between Now and the November Vote

A formal community information period runs from 14 July through 10 October 2026. The electoral commission's office has confirmed that non-partisan plain-language fact sheets will be distributed to all 6,400 registered residential addresses in the New Farm voting district by 28 July. Three public information sessions are scheduled, the first at the New Farm Neighbourhood Centre on 22 July, with subsequent sessions in August and September. Attendance is open to all residents regardless of enrolment status, and the sessions will include an interpreter service for non-English speakers.

Both measures require a simple majority to pass. If either measure fails, the directorate's June budget update makes clear that the existing programs will enter a staged review process beginning in January 2027, with service reductions considered on a program-by-program basis. If both pass, the combined revenue is expected to be available for disbursement from 1 July 2027, meaning residents would see tangible changes to service availability in the second half of that year. Community members who want to review the full text of each measure can access the ballot documents through the municipal clerk's office at 120 Oxlade Drive or via the council's public records portal, where both have been available since 3 July 2026.