The 2017/18 Annual Report was adopted by Council at the Tuesday 30th October Council meeting.

The document reports on WDC’s operational performance and financial position for the year to 30 June 2018. The Annual Report was audited by Deloitte and was issued an unmodified audit opinion.

During the last financial year, we have kept our focus on applying our guiding principles of prudent financial management, ‘fit for purpose’ asset infrastructure and delivering our services in an efficient manner. 

Actual debt has continued to reduce against forecast levels over the last three years, and sits at $41.7 million, compared with the $53.65 million forecast in the 2015-25 Long Term Plan. 

We made a capital investment of $9.87 million in projects to renew and improve our public assets, enhance our services and reduce future operating costs.  Current and future generations that rely on our roads, water, waste water and community services, will benefit from our good asset stewardship.

Total expenditure was $1.9 million less than budgeted, mainly due to less costs associated with the District Plan work-stream, a decrease in repairs and maintenance work required for Council-owned properties, a reduction in operations and maintenance costs for our sewerage schemes, and lower interest costs of $1.8 million, as favourable loan interest rates were achieved during the year along with a lower debt position than forecast. You can read more in the Overview of our financial performance section of the Annual Report.

A number of key projects were completed during the last year including the completion of our 2018-28 Long Term Plan, development of a new entrance to Brook Park, and provision of new toilets in Benneydale and Marokopa. You can read more about our achievements in the Activity Highlights section of the Annual Report.

We must acknowledge the continued excellent performance of our CCO Inframax Construction Limited (ICL). This is very encouraging and will provide benefits to our district. ICL has reported a net profit after tax of $2.1 million for the year.  The equity of the company has increased substantially to $8.98 million at 30 June 2018.  The progress made by ICL reflects a lot of hard work by the Board, Management and Staff and of course the support of the Council over time as shareholder. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Board, Management and Staff on this stellar performance.

We have a committed elected Council and organisation working collectively to achieve great outcomes for our ratepayers and the District as a whole. We are proud to be leading our communities towards a vibrant and thriving future and we will continue with our endeavours into the future.

The full Annual Report is available to view here and from our Queen Street Office. A summary Annual Report will be made available later this month.