DPC DECLARED NATURAL DISASTERS AND ABNORMAL RAINFALL AND SEVERE WEATHER EVENTS GUIDANCE NOTES
Good day,
This is a reminder please to advise me as soon as possible if you have experienced any damage or
obstructions to your local roads as a result of a recent heavy rainfall or severe weather event.
GENERAL
It is a requirement that where practical a Main Roads officer is to inspect the damaged local roads
immediately after initial works have been completed or are on-going to open-up the roads, and it is
practical and safe to do so. Council should if possible take digital photos of the damaged or blocked
roads prior to any opening-up works, but with particular emphasis placed on photos taken prior to,
during and after completion of any re-instatement works. These photos will be required to support
council’s eventual claim based on incurred actual costs. The inspection by Main Roads with council’s
officers of the damaged local roads will determine collectively whether a local road will be eligible for
relief funding. Damage repairable by the removing or winning back of material by grader blade will
not be eligible, as this is considered to be a routine maintenance activity.
The attached forms titled Estimate Application, Rainfall Data (only applicable for abnormal events)
Flood Data and Asset Damage must then be forwarded to this office as soon as practical after the
inspection has taken place. The Main Roads Regional Manager when satisfied with the estimation of
costs and data will then notify Main Roads in Perth.
Your administration and finance people will be required to raise a new project number specific to
each affected local road, and to have each of the two work activities (refer to attached matrix)
identified by activity expenditure codes within each specific project number. It may be feasible for a
council to have one new project number raised to identify all affected local roads, but each road will
still require an identifying activity expenditure code. Any existing project numbers that are used to
capture day to day improvement or maintenance expenditures on a local road must not be used for
incurring costs for WANDRRA (Western Australia Natural Disaster Recovery Relief Arrangement) or
abnormal events.
All claims for WANDRRA declared events and for eligible abnormal events may be required to be
supported by copies of a project number’s expenditure transaction listings (let’s call this the ledger)
the claim’s Certification of Actual Expenditure plus accompanying forms showing the break-down of
incurred costs against the two work activity codes of CDO and re-instatement, and against the three
categories of Ordinary, Additional and Contractor. Copies of wages time-sheets, approved over-time
by council, vehicle log-sheets, private-hire dockets and of material procurements may also be
required to accompany a claim, so please ensure you are able if required to provide same. All
supporting documentation must be notated to the AGRN number issued for the WANDRRA event, and
similarly a notation aligned to an eligible abnormal event.
Claimed costs must not include GST paid for example to a contractor.
The critical factors in all of the above are to ensure a council’s ledgers clearly delineate or show the
capture of costs associated with allowable CDO (Counter Disaster Operations - or opening-up works)
as distinct from costs for the re-instatement of damaged council infrastructure such as signs, culverts,
pavements, drainage, etc, plus CDO costs no longer allowed but are to be recorded as re-instatement
costs. Please refer to NDRRA Guideline 10.
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The imperatives are simply that each of the two work activities allow for the full and partial claiming
of incurred expenditures, and thus the two sets of expenditures are required to be kept separated by
cost activity codes or such under the one job or project code.
It must also be stated that where a council approves specific over-time to be under-taken under the
expenditure category of Additional, then these costs should also be ‘recognisable’ within each of the
two cost activity code ledgers, or expenditure transaction reports.
WANDRRA
Where the event has been declared by DPC as a natural disaster under the WANDRRA, DPC will
contact Main Roads WA and request us to obtain from affected councils an estimation of costs of
damages to local roads. One would suspect that DPC would contact councils to ascertain costs of
damages to other council infrastructure. DPC, through negotiations with Main Roads WA has
instructed us to request councils to submit estimates and claims on their local roads ONLY, directly to
the regional Main Roads office. The implication here is that claims for damages to other council
infrastructure are to be sent directly to DPC. You will have greater knowledge than me on this
particular point.
Council may claim under a DPC declared natural disaster 100% of all allowable CDO costs (now very
unlikely, so any CDO costs will be included with re-instatement costs) and 75% of all incurred costs for
any re-instatement works (up to a maximum contribution limit, or’ trigger point’) for those local
roads as recommended by the Regional Manager, but only for those actual costs as shown against
the two categories of Additional and or Contractor on the supporting Certification of Actual
Expenditure form. The two accompanying Details forms plus the Additional and Contractors Costs
form will also be required. Once an agreed or DPC approved re-imbursement figure has been
determined, this office will notify council to arrange a tax invoice. The tax invoice raised for a
WANDRRA event WILL NOT INCLUDE GST.
Costs incurred under the Ordinary category of expenditure are able to be invoiced separately to Main
Roads as detailed below under Abnormal. Although where an event has been declared a natural
disaster by DPC, any claim on the SAC (State Advisory Committee under the SRFTLGA) for Ordinary
costs will have GST added to the tax invoice.
Where an event has been declared a natural disaster, rainfall data will not be required to support the
claim. With an abnormal event, rainfall and flood data is essential.
ABNORMAL
Where the event is an eligible abnormal rainfall or severe weather event and not a declared natural
disaster, council will be able to claim 100% of all CDO or opening-up costs (not affected by WANDRRA
determination 2012) plus two thirds of any re-instatement costs. The claim will be required to be
supported by the Certification of Actual Expenditure plus other accompanying forms showing the
break-down of incurred costs against the various work activity codes, and against the three
categories of Ordinary, Additional and Contractor.
SAC approval will be required based on a recommendation from Main Roads, and once obtained this
office will notify council to arrange for a tax invoice to be raised for the agreed amount of reimbursement. Invoices raised for abnormal events will have GST added.
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Please do not forget to immediately commence gathering all available rainfall figures and
dates/times from properties and sites within the affected area, plus any official rainfall information
that can be provided from the BOM. Your claim will be subject to scrutiny, first by Main Roads
Waterways Section and, if approved then by SAC, so any supporting documentation along with the
digital photos will be an essential pre-requisite.
EXAMPLE FOR THE CALCULATION OF EXPENDITURE RE-IMBURSEMENTS
Total Ordinary
Opening
10 000
Total Additional plus
Re-instate
15 000
25 000
2 000
2 000
Total Contractor
5000
75 000
80 000
Total Costs
$15 000
$92 000
$107 000
Claim WANDRRA event No $0
issue of AGRN No. by DPC
$61 500 (75%)
$61 500 (75%) as proclaimed by
WANDRRA event Claim on SAC $10 000 (100%) $9 999 (66.66%)
meet 1:20 event criteria
Claim for Abnormal event
on SAC
$15 000 (100%) $61 333 (66.66%)
$19 999 but must
$76 333
A progress claim may be submitted by council based on 40% of the estimated costs, and supported by
a Progress Payment Certificate that states that council has incurred actual costs to-date equal to the
amount of the claim. A progress claim cannot be made in advance of any actual opening-up and reinstatement works where costs have not been incurred. As a budget has not been provided at this
stage, any claim for an advance payment without any incurred expenditure would be contrary to the
Financial Management Act, although not tested….
Reference to the Declared Natural Disasters (WANDRRA) and Abnormal Weather Events Matrix as
provided by this office should always be first made to determine how council is required to capture
incurred costs and thus structure their ledgers accordingly. Failure to provide the Main Roads
assessing officer with evidence of costs incurred under the three expenditure categories and the two
work activities (CDO and re-instatement) may very possibly negate the claim.
Essentially, a council must now be able to submit on request any documentation to support a claim.
The above guidance notes although onerous will prepare a council to meet any bureaucratic
eventuality.
Greg Willis
LGIM
Last up-dated 4 March 2015 in relation to WANDRRA determination 2012 (CDO costs claimable as reinstatement)
MAIN ROADS Western Australia
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