19 October 2015

Satisfactory start to year achieved

Palmerston North City Council has achieved an operating budget surplus for the first quarter of the 2015/16 financial year.

The Council has recorded a controllable surplus of $1.5m more than planned in the three months to 30 September 2015.

Chief Executive Officer Paddy Clifford says several factors contributed to the surplus including a reduction in some costs. He says there has been a delay to some planned spending on professional services and some grants have not been awarded as yet. Some of those savings have been offset by increased spending on items such as road maintenance due to the June floods and other adverse weather events.

“We had planned to have met most of these expenses either in full or in part by now. I expect most will be incurred over the remainder of the year,” says Mr Clifford.

Chief Financial Officer Grant Elliott says it has been a good start to the 2015/16 financial year.

"Council managers and officers are continuing their focus on expenditure reduction. This has been an emphasis of our work in recent years while still delivering the services required by our community.”

Financial Accountant Keith Allan told Councillors at today's Finance and Performance Committee meeting that Capital Expenditure programmes valued at $4.7m have been incurred against the overall capital programme budget for the year of $53.8m.

“The Council is 20 per cent ahead in terms of the amount of work it has completed compared to the same time last year. There is always a lot of planning and project management needed at the beginning of each financial year before work can commence,” says Mr Allan.

Copies of the Financial Report can be found in the Finance and Performance Committee Agenda at pncc.govt.nz

ends

© Scoop Media