Whakatāne District Council has adopted its audited Annual Report for the 2019/20 financial year at an extraordinary Council meeting held on 18 February 2021. The Annual Report enables Council to compare its actual activities and performance for the year with what was set out for the year in its Long Term Plan and Annual Plan.
Mayor Judy Turner says the Annual Reporting process enables Council to ‘hold up the mirror’ and promotes accountability to the community for the decisions made throughout the year.
“The 2019/20 year was a year that saw the tragedy of the Whakaari eruption, and the disruption of COVID-19,” she notes. “These events affected our ability to deliver everything that we had planned for the year, as Council had several critical roles to support the wellbeing of our communities during this time.”
“Whilst we deviated somewhat from what was planned, Council was still able to achieve a significant number of its targets in terms of both financial and non-financial measures.”
“The services Council delivered achieved 61% of our targets, and a move to a new survey methodology meant that 25% of targets were unable to be accurately compared to the previous financial year,” Mayor Turner says. “COVID-19 was either directly or partially responsible for 8 of the 13 of those measures that we did not achieve.”
Key projects undertaken within the previous financial year included: the final completion of all remaining roading repairs related to the devastating April 2017 storm events (Cyclones Cook and Debbie), the successful application to the Government’s Provincial Growth Fund through which project partners received $36.8 million funding for the Whakatāne Regeneration Programme, seismic strengthening of the Whakatāne War Memorial Hall was completed, and Council led a 13-step economic recovery plan in response to COVID-19 and the Whakaari eruption.
Council finished the 2019/20 financial year with an operating deficit of $4.94 million. Revenue was around $4 million (5%) less than budget, which was mainly due to not receiving subsidy funding from Waka Kotahi (NZ Transport Agency) towards major transport projects as they were delayed.
Council expenditure was around $9 million (12%) higher than budget. Reasons identified for the increased expenditure included the depreciation of roading assets, costs relating to the Awatarariki Managed Retreat (offset with funding receipts), and relief given to leaseholders during COVID-19.
Normally, the Annual Report is required be adopted within four months of the end of the financial year. Due to COVID-19, the timeframes for this financial year were extended, and further delays with the audit process led to a much later adoption than usual.
The Annual Report covers all aspects of the Council’s financial management, plus 92 non-financial performance measures, and is a requirement of the Local Government Act 2002.