Rain and floods didn't dampen Council performance over 2016/17

Despite rain, floods and a large bush fire, our Council managed to deliver almost all of what we set out to achieve over the 2016/17 financial year.
The 2016/17 Annual Report has been adopted by our Council this week. It provides a snapshot of how we delivered on projects, services and spending compared to forecasts for the financial year in the Annual Plan.

The full document can be read at www.tcdc.govt.nz/annualreport.

"Wasn't the weather a bit of a shocker this year?" says our Mayor Sandra Goudie. "But despite the flooding and the slips the year's storms brought us we've still achieved a lot. We've continued to invest in essential infrastructure such as roads and water services, we've focused on community and recreational facilities across the district, and we've worked with external partners wherever possible to ensure the best bang for our buck and reduce the burden on ratepayers."

"I'd really like to thank the whole Council team, elected members and staff, for all the hard work they've put in, both responding to the severe weather events we've had and carrying on with business as usual despite the circumstances," Mayor Sandra says.

"2016/17 has been a busy year," says our Chief Executive, Rob Williams. The Thames water supply upgrade was completed and upgrades to the other supplies brought forward to make sure we comply with the NZ Drinking Water Standards.
We also continued to invest in other core infrastructure, including roads, stormwater and wastewater systems, as well as community recreation facilities, to meet the expectations of both our resident and peak-season visitor populations.

The total operational spend the financial year was just above $80M, which was in line with the budgets for the 2016/17 Annual Plan.

"This had us in a strong-enough financial position to respond to some big costs from serious weather and fire events," says Mr Williams. "We are proud of being an organisation that is reasonably resilient in response to emergency events."
"We've been frank and open about what we have done well, but also frank and open what we need to work on," Mr Williams says. "We've also benefitted by having an independent, external auditor Bruce Robertson, on our Audit Committee who has been providing us with a high level of expertise."

Looking forward, staff and elected members are working to develop a 2018-2028 Long Term Plan proposal. This sets out the types of projects we propose to undertake in this period and how these are prioritised and funded.
We'll be calling on your knowledge and understanding of the district and encourage you to read, engage with and contribute to the feedback to the Long Term Plan proposal around March and April 2018.

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