Kiama’s NYE sky show has been scrapped for 2025. Photo: Kiama Municipal Council.
Kiama’s New Year’s Eve fireworks have officially been cancelled for this year after a proposal to source the funds for the annual event from parcels of land being sold off was shut down by councillors as being “irresponsible”.
Following community disappointment about a potential cancellation, Cr Matt Brown proposed the income from the sale of residential parcels of land at Glenbrook Drive could be reallocated and used to cover the $99,000 required to run this year’s event.
“We have just been informed that we can remove the caveats from five lots of land at Glenbrook Drive which should generate a large sum of money for Kiama, something to the tune of five million dollars, and therefore we should keep our fireworks going again,” Cr Brown said.
“It does have a financial cost but what it does for bringing the community together should not be understated at all; in fact this is such an important cultural event for us in Kiama.
“It would be very very sad to not have it this year and there’s no reason why we can’t have it.”
Cr Brown was concerned about what the cancellation would mean for business and tourism, and organisations such as Jamberoo Rural Fire Brigade that use it for fundraising.
Cr Mike Cains and others supported the motion, despite agreeing a longer-term plan to make the event financially sustainable was still needed.
“I know that so many families will occupy our cabins during that first week of the year and part of the reason that they pay a premium, half the reason that they fill up the Airbnbs and spend their money in this town is because there are events like the fireworks, like the rides and the showbags, that add to the experience of coming to Kiama,” he said.
“What we’re talking about now is the possibility of creating reputational damage to our long-term visitors, the disappointment of local families and the erosion of faith that our citizens have in the importance that we place on our own cultural heritage.”
But others, including Cr Melissa Matters, called the suggestion “financially irresponsible”.
“Money received must go into restricted council funds, not into a general operating account,” she said.
“Kiama Council has been under a Performance Improvement Order for over three years now.
“We need the funds to build up our restricted reserves to fund catalyst sites that will return council sound investments into the future.”
“We do need to be using ratepayers’ money responsibly,” Cr Erica Warren agreed. “At a time where we don’t have money to put into a disabled parking space down the road or clear drains that are causing devastating damage to resident homes in Jamberoo, how do we allocate $330,000 since 2017 to the New Year’s Eve Fireworks?”
Votes were divided, with Mayor Cameron McDonald ultimately casting the deciding vote as chair.
“Certainly under a Performance Improvement Order I just cannot accept that we’ll use our assets to fund operations,” he said. “I think that it’s an incredibly bad move.”
Councillors then moved the foreshadowed motion to not hold the event in 2025.
In June, council unanimously adopted the budget which had removed allocated funding for the fireworks as a cost saving measure amid ongoing financial difficulty.
“Over the past three years we have saved more than $15 million under the Performance Improvement Order, just from business efficiencies, just from doing what we do as staff members more efficiently without impacting on service deliveries,” the council’s CEO Jane Stroud said.
“As I said at our budget meeting, we’re on the bones now, there’s no more to be had; we require some hard decisions.
“We as staff are absolutely aware of how much people love this event, and we are at a crossroads as an organisation.
“Literally there is no more to give.”
There was hope sponsorship and business contributions would make the event possible, but despite interest, there was not enough to make it happen.
Council will now explore ways to hold the event in future years, and while it was acknowledged there would be disappointment, there was also confidence the event would return even better.
“It’s a temporary pause; it’s not a cancellation of it ever happening again,” Cr Melinda Lawton said. “It’s for one year only and I think this will allow the event to come back stronger and more sustainable.”
