In it’s just released annual report for 2014/15, the Waikato District Council says that unforseen delays meant that it has not undertaken a number of capital projects. The unforseen delays are put down to, “weather, public consultation timeframes and negotiations over land purchase”. This is a bit strange as surely a Council with the long history of WDC should know about Waikato weather and how lengthy consultation and land purchasing can be.
The good news for ratepayers is that as these major projects are late, the Council’s didn’t have to borrow as much money as planned, so its debt is 32 million less than expected.
Another bright spot in the report is a substantial increase in income, although this seems to have been caused by the timing of subdivision work at Pokeno.
The Council’s full media release follows:
Media Release: Waikato District Council, 15 October 2015
Waikato District Council Annual Report 2014/15 adopted
Waikato District Council’s audited Annual Report for 2014/15 was adopted at a full Council meeting on Monday.
The Council’s ‘scorecard’ to its community shows the organisation progressed on key projects set out in the Annual Plan and achieved lower than expected debt.
Highlights of the report include:
- Net debt at $53 million, significantly lower than the forecast $85.2 million.
- Income earned at $142.9million, $21.2 million more than budgeted for and a 40% increase on 2013/14 figures.
- Completing an upgrade to Pokeno’s water supply infrastructure.
- Hosting a high-profile event to bring economic benefits to the district.
- Reaching record high property consents and information requests.
- Working with our communities to be prepared in an emergency.
- Forming a new roading alliance to service our road network.
Gavin Ion, Chief Executive, says the report shows a strong financial performance with higher development and financial contribution income contributing to the overall increase in Council income.
“During the year changes to the staging of residential and industrial development in Pokeno provided significantly more income than had been planned, with both vested asset and contribution income above budgeted figures ($11.6 million and $6.9 million respectively).”
The lower than expected debt is due to unforeseen delays and re-staging of capital works programmes.
“Changes in capital work programmes can occur for various reasons. Savings in construction prices, progression and related timing of subdivision activity, weather, public consultation timeframes and negotiations over land purchase. While these are not ideal from a programme delivery perspective, they have positively impacted our debt. ”
Mayor Allan Sanson was very pleased with Council’s position.
“Overall we’re in great shape and we have ended the financial year in a good position..”
“The year has been characterised by engagement, partnerships and responding to the challenges of a growing district. We’re in a unique position with the Waikato Expressway bringing more people, more opportunities and more business to our district.”
“It’s an exciting time for us as a council and a district and we’re really proud of what we have achieved over the past year.”
The Annual Report and Summary are now available online. Hardcopies will also be available at Council libraries and offices in the coming weeks.