Unqualified Annual Report adopted

Friday, 30 October 2009

Southland District Council has received an unqualified Audit report to its 2008-2009 Annual Report which was adopted at a meeting yesterday. Southland District Mayor Frana Cardno said she was proud to receive an unqualified audit report.

"It shows Council is on track and the people of Southland can have confidence in us," Mrs Cardno said.

Council chief executive David Adamson said the past year had been challenging with changes at both national and international level.

However, Council had continued to work towards making Southland a great place to live, with work completed on several local township projects, some of which are significant for the communities.

"Managing the District's roads continues to be a test, as it is our main area of focus and spending," Mr Adamson said.

"During the year, Council resealed more than 116km and rehabilitated 18km on our roads.  A new route for Papatotara Coast Road was developed inland and a number of roads were resealed on Stewart Island.

"Together with maintenance activities, Council's overall expenditure on roading was $26.6 million compared to the budget of $23.9 million," he said.

Unfortunately, the New Zealand Transport Agency's cuts to funding have extenuated the problems and this is a major issue for Council.

Satisfaction with the performance of Council and its activities remains high and improvements in satisfaction in dog control, location of refuse stations and recycling centres, community development and the level of consultation are pleasing.

Council returned a net surplus of $4.6 million, less than the budgeted $14.4 million. This was because of a reduction in asset development revenue of $6 million, principally due to the timing of a number of water and wastewater projects.  Other revenue was lower by $2.3 million, with the key reason being the old Waiau Airport had not yet been sold. There was also increased operational expenditure.

Who to contact

If you would like to discuss a matter on this page, feel free to contact us:

Southland District Council
P.O. Box 903
Invercargill 9840
Phone: 0800 732 732
Fax: 0800 732 329
emailsdc@southlanddc.govt.nz