Considering the council had forecast a $7.26m profit, it was "much worse" than expected, a joint statement from chief executive Alex Parmley and Mayor Melanie Tavendale said.
The reasons were simple.
"We had a lot less income than originally planned and spent more than planned," the joint statement said.
"Some projects were cancelled and others started later than planned."
The council’s 2025 annual report says efficiencies have been gained through implementation of its transformation project, aimed at getting better value for money, which has resulted in an 8% reduction in full-time equivalent employees. However, those have been dwarfed by increased value of council assets, meaning more need to be put aside to maintain them, insurance costs and audit costs have also risen above inflation.
Over the financial year, WDC collected $46.72m in rates, $120,000 more than budgeted.
However, total income of $90.76m was $3.89m down on the forecasted budget.
Expenditure amounted to $93.86m.
The $6.26m budget overspend was down to overspends in finance costs ($101,000) and a $5.1m overspent in activity expenditure. That includes spending $19.33m on personnel costs ($1.19m over budget) including $126,000 in five severance payments, none of which were budgeted for.
That is also despite a reduction in the amount being paid in wages. The council’s wage bill fell from $20.95m in 2024 to $20.61m.
The $23.55m spent on depreciation and amortisation was $3m over budget, with water supply costs ($1.58m over budget), Wastewater costs ($921,000) and stormwater costs ($350,000) accounting for much of that.
There was also a $2.28m spend on non-trading losses ($969,000 over budget) with changing values for property, plant and equipment, investment properties and forestry assets.
New data, supplied by WDC, shows the council has also been faced with a big jump in the amount it has paid back to people in the form of rates rebates, following a change in legislation.
This year, the council approved 863 rebates for the new full amount of $805, amounting to a total rebate of $682,446 — that’s $231,095 more than last year, when it paid out 613 rebates at the lower rate of $790.
