Home > Archives > 3rd October 2016 Issue > Your Questions Answered - New Council can begin with confidence
MANGAWHAI'S NO.1 NEWSPAPER
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Your Questions Answered - New Council can begin with confidenceThe final meeting of the Kaipara District Council under governance by Commissioners was held last week. The meeting included adopting the Council’s Annual Accounts for the year ending 30 June 2016.
Council staff and management have made huge progress over the past four years in terms of accounting, budgeting, and financial management. For any organisation, getting this area of activity functioning well is critical for success. All seven of the financial prudence benchmarks set by the Government for local councils to measure themselves against have been met by Kaipara. Comparing the Council’s 2016 annual accounts to the Council’s 2011 annual accounts tells the story of recovery – recovery from a Council troubled financially to one performing well. * The 2016 accounts were the first since the year ending 30 June 2011 to receive a completely clean audit opinion. The 2011 accounts had six audit “tags”. * The 2016 accounts report public debt at $65 million. The 2011 accounts reported public debt at $83 million. * The 2016 accounts report an operating surplus of $9.981 million. The 2011 accounts reported an operating deficit of $5.736 million. * The 2016 accounts were adopted by Council a month earlier than required by law. The 2011 accounts were adopted nearly a year later than required by law. The newly elected Council will be able to begin its term with confidence in terms of Council’s financial status. A ten year long term financial plan is in place to guide elected members with their decision-making. What’s going on in Mangawhai Community Park? Mangawhai Community Park continues to develop. Contractors supported by volunteers have been laying concrete for vehicle access and parking between the Mangawhai Museum and the developing Historic Village. The Museum has surrendered a little of its lease back to Council to enable this public space to be shared. One of the big advantages of all users of the community park coming together under one governance umbrella is the ability for Council and users to make sensible decisions on how we utilise the space. Shared parking facilities, shared entrances, and shared public amenities all make for a better park in the future, with efficient utilisation of what will quickly become a scarce resource – the park’s land. High Court Interim Decision The interim decision of the High Court released on 15 September 2016 dismissed the Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents Association's and Richard Bruce Rogan and Heather Elizabeth Rogan's claim (and the remedies sought) against the Kaipara District Council. The Association had earlier been largely unsuccessful in its attempts against the Council in the High Court (2014) and completely unsuccessful in the Court of Appeal (2015). Voting in Kaipara Those of you eligible to vote in the Local Body Elections will have received your voting papers. If your voting papers are still lying around your house, please complete them and post them off. You only have a few days left to cast your vote. If you are posting your ballot papers, they need to be in the post by the end of Wednesday this week (5 October) to ensure that they will be counted. Or you can deliver your envelope to Kaipara District Council offices in Mangawhai or Dargaville by midday, 12 noon, Saturday, 8 October. Let’s make voting participation in Kaipara the highest in the country! |