News Release

23 May 2017

Whangarei District Council’s books better than the government’s!

Whangarei District Council’s management and councillors are reveling in an outstandingly positive report from international credit rating agency Standard and Poors (S&P).

The agency has confirmed a AA credit rating for the Council, stating that it is the highest credit rating possible in New Zealand.

“In short, we have hit the credit-rating ceiling for New Zealand, ours can’t go any higher than the Central Government’s. If New Zealand’s credit rating was higher, ours would be too,” said WDC Finance Committee Chairman Cr Shelley Deeming.

“Council’s credit rating has moved from AA- to AA in the two years since the current financial strategy was adopted in the 2015 – 2025 Long Term Plan. This is an exceptional result and is directly attributable to Council preparing a robust financial policy and sticking to it.

“The agency said Council’s management is focused on prudent financial management and has contributed to the council’s strong financial position, and it expects we will continue to improve our operating surplus by sticking to our rates policy, further strengthening our surplus and reducing our debt ratio.

“That feedback provides a strong incentive to continue on this steady course. The agency says that any significant deviation from our current financial strategy, such as a major lift in capital expenditure without an increase in rates and other revenue, would see our credit strength diminish.

“I will be urging Councillors to remember this while developing the financial strategy in the 2018 – 2028 Long Term plan,” Cr Deeming said.

“Standard and Poors said our focus on prudent financial management has contributed to the strong result and that the current management restructure will help to align our business activities to enable better delivery of services. The agency also commended us for clearing a backlog of infrastructure improvements.”

Mayor Sheryl Mai said it was enormously satisfying to get this level of recognition from an independent, internationally recognized agency.

“Their praise is not just for the way we handle money. It is also for a range of measures we have taken to improve our operation and results for our customers.

“Everything we have done in recent years has focused on getting the absolute best value for dollar for ratepayers in terms of service, assets and financial management. It’s paying off, and we are on a roll.”

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