The Council is committed to leading our City, protecting our environment, caring for our people, making our City vibrant, livable, healthy and accessible, and economically and financially sustainable.

Blue Mountains City Council has 12 Councillors (including the Mayor who is elected by the Councillors), representing 4 Wards within the City. Councillors are elected every 4 years. The General Manager is appointed by the Council to manage the administration of the Council and in turn, the General Manager appoints staff within Council.

The Council as steward

The Blue Mountains is one of only two cities in the world surrounded by a World Heritage Area ands its within the Sydney drinking water catchment servicing 1.7 million people. This presents additional responsibilities and costs for the Council as steward of a City in a World Heritage National Park. This includes managing the impact of development on the environment, protecting and conserving world heritage natural values and protecting the health of drinking water catchments.

The Council as leader and advocate

The Council leads the governance and management of a City with an area of 1,431km2 and a population of close to 80,000 spread across 27 towns and villages. The Council engages, consults and partners with the community on their needs and required levels of service. It also advocates to other levels of government for services and funding and works to improve the well-being of our community and financial sustainability of our City.

The Council as service provider

The Council allocates over $100 million each year to the provision of an extensive range of services to meet community needs and priorities. The Council almost matches every dollar paid by ratepayers for service delivery with funding from other sources, including grants. Services provided include transport and public accessibility, waste resource management, town centres, community development, emergency management, economic development, sport and recreation, family daycare and libraries.

The Council as asset manager

The Council is responsible for managing significant natural assets that underpin the identity and health of the region, including 10,000 hectares of bushland, 300 km of creeks, 20 hectares of open freshwater bodies and 500 hectares of Endangered Ecological communities.

Supporting the delivery of services, the Council manages over $1 billion worth of built assets. The maintenance and renewal of these assets is critical to sustaining our quality of life and meeting the needs of residents and visitors to the City.

Thomas Engel