Tauranga City Council’s 2023/24 Annual Report confirms challenging times ahead as the council works to meet the city’s infrastructure needs.
Local government organisations across the country are facing tough choices as they struggle to balance high capital investment costs and community ability to fund the work involved while the recession exacerbates rates affordability. In Tauranga’s case, that will mean some difficult decisions are ahead to ensure that we live within our means and keep our balance sheet in good shape.
Key financial results for the business community include:
- Capital expenditure and net debt were both a little higher than budgeted for the year – $418 million (2023/24 Annual Plan Budget $398m) and $1.07 billion (2023/24 Annual Plan Budget $1.05bn) respectively
- Operational revenue and total rates were also slightly above budget – $407 million (2023/24 Annual Plan Budget $397m) and $295 million (2023/24 Annual Plan budget $291m) respectively
- Operational expenditure was around 10 per cent above budget – $492 million (2023/24 Annual Plan Budget $447m)
- Council’s debt-to-revenue ratio was $218%, well under the Local Government Funding Agency limit of 290%
- The value of the council’s total assets was $7.82 billion, up approximately 4% on budget
- An operational loss of $85 million
In the light of these numbers, there’s clearly a lot of work to do to deliver on our ambition to make Tauranga the best city in New Zealand while ensuring our rates are affordable. So, our ability to leverage our relationships with central government and our key city and regional stakeholders will play a critical role.
Among the many non-financial highlights for the 2023/24 year were: progress towards enabling housing development as well as intensification provisions in the new City Plan and commencement of the Te Manawataki o Te Papa transformation of the city centre.
Transport network improvements include: the completion of Cameron Road stage one, a start to construction of the Pāpāmoa East Interchange and upgrades to SH29 now underway to enable the Tauriko West growth area. In addition, there has been development of plans for Fifteenth Ave to Welcome Bay Road as well as the Connecting Mount Maunganui project.
Elsewhere, we’ve seen plans advance for a state-of-the-art marine research and education facility at Marine Park (Sulphur Point) with the council and the University of Waikato having signed a lease agreement. Facility improvements are set for active reserves’ facilities at Mercury Baypark, Blake Park and the Gordon Spratt Reserve pavilion, and the Omanawa Falls safe access project has been completed.
From an environmental perspective, more than 50% of all household kerbside waste is now being either recycled or composted, and the planting of more than 300,000 native plants as part of the restoration of the Kopurererere Reserve is encouraging.
Soon after the end of the financial year, the governance of the council by commissioners was concluded with my election as mayor alongside nine ward councillors. The newly elected members are all firmly focused on delivering great outcomes and value for money for ratepayers – we’ll be working in collaboration with the council executive team and staff to achieve these goals. I look forward to reporting on our progress in the 2024/25 Annual Report.
