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Council responds well to challenging year

Published: Fri 2 Sep 2005 01:26 PM
1 September 2005
Wellington City Council responds well to challenging year
Wellington City Council has achieved strong financial results in a challenging year.
Councillors last night adopted the Council’s annual report for the year ended 30 June 2005. The Council has reported a net surplus of $3.786 million for the year ended 30 June 2005, compared with a budgeted deficit of $9.233 million.
Wellington City Council Acting Chief Financial Officer Neil Cherry says the favourable turnaround is due to several sources of unbudgeted revenue. The Council does not usually budget for these, as they are either non cash in nature or result from year-end accounting adjustments only. They include:
- vested assets such as donated assets, assets provided by developers and assets transferred from the Crown ($12.1 million)
- net gains on the sale of various assets including the Chews Lane Precinct ($3.3 million)
- revenue received from bequests, including JR Hancock ($1.8 million)
- additional Transfund subsidies received for roading projects ($0.9 million)
- surpluses from our joint ventures with Porirua City Council (Spicer Valley Landfill and Wastewater Treatment Plant) and the Wellington Waterfront Project ($0.6 million)
Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast says this is an excellent result, particularly in view of many unforeseen challenges.
“We did well despite costs associated with the clean-up of the city after the heavy storm which devastated trees on Tinakori Hill, increases in construction costs and the lack of any dividend from Wellington International Airport.
“We are dedicated to good stewardship of city assets and finances. With all these challenges we have performed ahead of budget for the sixth consecutive year, demonstrating that the Council acts in a financially prudent manner, while delivering high quality services to the residents of Wellington.”
Chief Executive Garry Poole says 2004/05 was a year of significant progress for Wellington in building a world-class, creative and innovative city as well as ensuring our city is run sustainably, with high-quality infrastructure, safe roads and a strong transport network.
“Infrastructure highlights include the completion of the new inner-city stormwater system, the construction of two new water reservoirs at Maupuia and Roseneath, and the beginning of stormwater work related to the inner-city bypass. Other significant projects started or finished during the year include the construction of the Tawa Recreation Centre and renewals work on our library and housing portfolios.”
ENDS

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