Annual Report Financial Highlights

At the Electors’ General Meeting on Tuesday 7 February 2023, the community was  presented with the City’s Annual Report Financial Highlights for the year ending June 2022.

The 2021/22 Financial Statements reported  an operating deficit of $816,000 – far below the budgeted $4.16 million, and previous  year’s $2.16 million deficit.

This better than expected result was due to increased revenue, careful budget  management and reduced employee expenses. As this is still an operating deficit,  the City will continue working to return to surplus as soon as possible to fund future  asset renewal and replacement.

The City continues to have low levels of debt  – $16.4 million, of which $10.55 million is for underground power and will be fully repaid  through service charges by 2025/26.

In addition, the City’s overall Financial  Health Indicator improved, moving from 71 in 2020/21 to 74 in 2021/22, compared  to a local government benchmark of 70.

The City has continued to improve its  financial position for the year ending June 2022, by implementing strategies to return  to an operating surplus and enable future investment in City’s assets.

Key highlights include:

• Overall revenue increased by  $2.9 million 
  Year on year (excluding underground power service charges)
• Rates revenue increased nearly $600,000 to $38.89 million
• Fees & charges revenue increased by 7.13 per cent year on year, up by $1.24 million (*predominantly golf, planning and building fees and hire of facilities)
• Mini golf contributed $259,000 in revenue representing 13 per cent gross return on initial investment
• Employee costs at $24.43 million, down by $505,000 from budget (excluding underground power, materials and contracts demonstrate an increase year on year of only $205,000
• Total operating expenditure was $300,000 below budget at $76.09 million compared to a budget of $76.39 million
• The City’s cash backed reserves increased by $3.05 million to a total of $43.34 million
• Utility charges remained constant with the City continuing to meet significant proportion of its needs through solar power.