MidCoast Council is down more than $623,000 - and counting - in administration costs related to the region’s recovery from the May 2025 flood.
While funding to repair roads and bridges will be mostly covered by state and federal governments, the cost of applying for grant funding is passed on to ratepayers.
At the council’s October 28 meeting, deputy mayor Jeremy Miller suggested administration costs were soaring due to the government’s unwillingness to “come out from behind their computers” and inspect the damage first hand.
What happened: A catastrophic flood event devastated parts of the MidCoast in May 2025, causing damage at thousands of locations across the region’s road network.
Since October 2025, the NSW Reconstruction Authority - which coordinates the delivery of disaster recovery funding to local councils - has paid out $69.4 million to the council for infrastructure repair works, with more to come.
So, what’s the issue: Applying for this funding requires council staff or consultants to fill out copious volumes of paperwork.
Councils need to demonstrate the condition of the road or bridge before the flood hit, and prove - through photographs, reports or data - the damage was caused by its impacts.
The to and fro: During this process, the council says the Reconstruction Authority has continuously requested further photographic evidence of damaged sites for grant funding applications - exacerbating its administration costs.
These costs, which include staff and consultant wages, have risen to $623,532 since the flood, and it is not eligible to be covered by grant funding.
Please come visit: At its October meeting, the council’s director of infrastructure and engineering services, Rob Scott, said his staff “have been pleading” with representatives of the Reconstruction Authority to visit affected sites in person to reduce the back and forth.
The justification: In response to questions from the Mid North Coaster, a spokesperson for the Reconstruction Authority said the agency only seeks “additional technical investigations where necessary to establish eligibility for disaster recovery funding”.
They say their staff’s local knowledge, alongside available photographs and other supporting information, means a formal inspection is not required for every site.
Could be better: MidCoast’s general manager Adrian Panuccio told the Mid North Coaster that while council is “thankful” for the disaster funding, there is “certainly room for improvement … in particular, the time it has taken to process the red tape”.
“After enduring the worst flood in the region ever recorded, I would support a more equitable system that avoids costs being pushed onto council and their ratepayers.”
On-site action: Following recent discussions with the council, Reconstruction Authority staff are visiting a number of disaster-impacted sites on the MidCoast this week.
According to a council spokesperson, agency representatives are prioritising locations with “high community impact”, such as the Wingham CBD, Wingham Brush and the revetment wall near River Street in Taree.
The costs add up: Extreme rainfall events - such as the one that prompted the May 2025 flood - have become more frequent and intense in Australia - meaning these administration costs are likely to be repeated if a more streamlined solution is not found.
NSW has experienced 60 declared natural disasters since 2019.
Between 2019 and 2025, the MidCoast experienced 13 separate disasters, as did the Nambucca Valley and Port Macquarie-Hastings regions.