Local authorities show quarterly deficit
16 June 2014
Local authorities had an operating deficit in the March 2014 quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today.
After adjusting for seasonal effects, expenditure exceeded income by $79.8 million.
“A drop in income coincided with a rise in spending, which led to the deficit this quarter,” local government statistics
manager Michele Lloyd said.
Operating income from core services for the March 2014 quarter was just under $2.0 billion. This was a fall of 3.0
percent from the December 2013 quarter. Operating expenditure on core services was $2.1 billion (up 3.3 percent) in the
same period.
A drop in dividends was the main cause of the drop in operating income. Dividend income fell $40.9 million from the
December 2013 quarter to the March 2014 quarter. Other contributions to the fall in operating income were current
grants, subsidies, and donations (down $16.6 million), rates income (down $12.6 million), and sales income (down $7.1
million).
Operating expenditure rose mainly due to purchases and other operating expenditure (up $63.8 million). There were also
increases in depreciation (up $3.2 million) and employee costs (up $1.6 million).
More information on local authorities’ financial statistics (including information on individual councils) will be
released in Local Authority Financial Statistics: Year ended June 2013. This will be released on 23 July 2014 alongside
Government Finance Statistics (Local Government): Year ended June 2013.
For more information about these statistics:
ends