$985,000the federal grant for the stadium upgrade, spread over three years

$400,000the stadium’s first-year allocation, and the cut to Toukley’s 2026-27 budget the report proposes to offset it

9 to 6the vote approving the stadium project, resolution C-26/1163

7 to 8the vote that lost an amendment asking for another offset

What the grant pays for

The stadium, in Terrigal, is a council-leased building and home to the Central Coast Basketball Association. The officers’ report to the 22 September meeting says Dr Gordon Reid, the Federal Member for Robertson, made a $985,000 pre-election commitment in April 2025 to fund upgrades there, and that the Commonwealth asked Council to sponsor and deliver the project. Council received formal confirmation from the federal infrastructure minister on 2 March 2026 and signed a funding agreement on 10 June 2026. The works, in the report’s words, are roof replacement, court renewals, solar panel installation, electrical and air conditioning improvements.

The money is phased to the agreement’s milestones: $400,000 in 2026-27, $400,000 in 2027-28 and $185,000 in 2028-29. Year one’s deliverables include electrical board upgrades, roof repairs and lighting upgrades.

Why Toukley pays for it this year

The grant covers the stadium works. What it does not do is make room for them in Council’s own program. The report proposes the stadium be offset by cutting the Toukley project in order to retain the adopted CAPEX budget for the 2026-27 financial year. In other words, the year’s capital program has a set total, and adding $400,000 of stadium work meant taking $400,000 out somewhere else. The report does not say why the total has to hold when the new money comes from Canberra, whether the constraint is cash flow, the capacity of Council’s project teams to deliver works, or the budget as adopted.

On Toukley itself, the officers are plain. This year’s scope there is investigation works, and This reduced budget is sufficient to complete the necessary assessments and investigations for this project this financial year. Beyond that, the report says, there is no capital budget in Council’s Delivery Plan for the Toukley masterplan, which depends on State and Federal funding. It puts a new Toukley community centre building at about $10.788 million and the whole masterplan at about $24.598 million.

The report also notes that the adopted budget for 2026-27 does not yet include the stadium, and that the amount will need to be included in a future Quarterly Budget Review.

What Toukley is waiting for

Toukley’s neighbourhood centre closed in 2023. Council’s consultation page says the building shut after ongoing damp and mould problems due to site drainage issues, and that rather than keep repairing it, Council chose to replan the whole precinct between Heador Street and Ray Street. The draft masterplan went on exhibition in August 2025 with an 850 square metre community centre, a children’s playspace and water play, a multi-purpose court and skate plaza, expanded childcare and upgraded surrounds for the aquatic centre.

Council adopted it 15 votes to 0 on 9 December 2025, on a motion moved by Cr Castles and seconded by Cr Walsh. The resolution itself records the catch: Council Notes there is no allocated funding for implementation of this Masterplan. The $500,000 the September amendment refers to was this year’s budget line for the project. The report says this year’s scope is investigation works and does not say what the other $400,000 was meant to pay for.

How the vote went

Cr Jared Wright moved the officers’ recommendation and Cr Rachel Stanton seconded it. Cr Castles, seconded by Cr Kyle MacGregor, moved an amendment that would have held the approval until another offset was found. It began by noting with concern that the budgeted $500,000 allocated to the Toukley Communities Facilities Redevelopment Project will be reduced to $100,000, asked that the Toukley project be made a high-level funding priority, including in the lead-up to the 2028 federal election, thanked Dr Reid for supporting the stadium, and Requests a report be provided to the October Council Meeting outlining other Council funding offset options so that approval can be finalised in a timely manner for this excellent Federally funded Project.

The amendment was lost 7 to 8. For it: Crs MacGregor, Castles, Crowley, Walsh, Neal, Smith and Lamont. Against: Mayor McKinna, Deputy Mayor Mouland and Crs Daniels, Eaton, Stanton, Wright, McNamara and McWaide. The original motion then carried 9 to 6. Cr Jane Smith, who had voted for the amendment, voted for the motion alongside the eight who had voted against it. The resolution approves the stadium project; it does not mention Toukley, whose cut is the officers’ proposal for funding it.

Our view

Toukley’s budget falls by $400,000, but on the officers’ own account the damage this year is limited. Its 2026-27 job is investigation, the officers say $100,000 covers it, and the building it needs has no construction money in Council’s Delivery Plan. If the officers are right, the investigation work this year can still be completed.

But the reason given for the cut deserves more than one line. Holding the program at its adopted total means a federally funded project still pushes $400,000 of other work out of the year. That is a real constraint on a council that wants grants, and the report gives it one clause. The amendment asked for a month to see what else could give way. Councillors were entitled to approve the project without waiting for the report the amendment sought. The report does not set out any alternative offsets. When the quarterly budget review brings this change to the budget, it should show both lines, and say plainly what $100,000 buys at Toukley this year and whether the investigation works are on track.

What happens next

The stadium has to be written into the 2026-27 budget through a quarterly budget review, and the long-term financial plan updated at its next review. We will report what the first quarterly budget review to carry this change shows for the stadium and Toukley, and will say here if none has by 31 December 2026.

  1. April 2025 Dr Gordon Reid makes a $985,000 pre-election commitment to the stadium.
  2. 14 August 2025 The draft Toukley Community Facilities Masterplan goes on exhibition.
  3. 9 December 2025 Council adopts the masterplan 15 to 0, noting it has no allocated funding.
  4. 2 March 2026 The federal infrastructure minister confirms the stadium funding.
  5. 10 June 2026 Council signs the funding agreement.
  6. 22 September 2026 Council approves the stadium project 9 to 6 on a report that offsets it with a $400,000 cut to Toukley.

Sources: Ordinary Council agenda and minutes of 22 September 2026, item 7.3; Ordinary Council minutes of 9 December 2025, item 5.1; Council’s Toukley Community Facilities Masterplan consultation page.