Council looks back on productive year as it adopts Annual Report

It’s been a productive 2022/23 year for Hurunui District Council, which has ticked off some major capital works.

Particular emphasis, said Mayor Marie Black, has been on upgrading and improving Hurunui’s Three Waters network and building on progress in upgrading water supplies to meet Drinking Water Standards for New Zealand, which has contributed to the level of debt that Council currently holds.

Council yesterday adopted the Annual Report for Hurunui District Council (HDC) for the 2022/23 year, and the Summary Report.

The Annual Report represents Council’s performance across the year from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023, against the second year of the Long Term Plan for the 2021-2031 period.

Council’s Chief Financial Officer Jason Beck said total revenue for the year was
$58.4 million, which was $4.7 million above the budget. “This is largely due to subsidies and grants from the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs (MTFJ) programme and significant development in South Ward, which brought in greater than anticipated development contributions.”

Total expenditure from the year was $61.0 million, which was $9.1 million above the budget, with key variances being employment costs ($0.76m greater) associated with the return to full operations for Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa post Covid and additional wage costs associated to MTFJ; Operating costs being $3.6m ahead of budget and higher levels of depreciation ($4.5m greater than budget) relating to the significant revaluation of Council’s Roading Assets in the 2021/22 year.

“Repair work arising from the various flooding events over the past 18 months saw a significant increase in operating expenditure in Roading,” said Beck.

“Council revalued its land and buildings at the end of June 2023, which resulted in a
$22.1 million increase. In addition, further adjustments were made to the value of its Roading Assets to reflect its current fair value, increasing the value of this area by $4.2 million. This results in total comprehensive revenue and expense of $26.3 million,” said Beck.

Beck said Council had budgeted total debt as at 30 June 2023 at $54 million. “Due to timing of capital expenditure, the balance of debt at the end of June 2023 was $47.5 million.”

As well as providing detail of the financial performance and position of Council, the Annual Report provides detail of the service performance of the Council over the year. The report outlines the targets that were set in the 2021-31 Long Term Plan and whether the Council had achieved those targets for the 2022/23 financial year. Overall, there are 63 individual performance measure that Council reports against, with 33 being achieved, 23 not achieved and a further seven were not measured.

“Of note there had been a change to the measures surrounding drinking water. The introduction of the new rules by Taumata Arowai, effective from 14 November 2022, resulted in Council being required to report against two different requirements,” Beck said.

Further detail of each performance measure, the result for the year and trend data is provided in the full Annual Report.

• For more information on the Annual Report, please go to Council’s website at https://www.hurunui.govt.nz/council/plans-and-strategies/annual-reports