An unaudited draft of its annual report for 2022-23 was presented yesterday to councillors during the finance and assurance committee.
It showed an operating deficit of $8.9 million compared to a budgeted $5.2m deficit for the year.
The report stated the total revenue was $16m over budget, primarily due to $14.5m of assets vested to the council this year.
However, its total expenditure was $19.7m above budget, of which $8m
was because of the higher than anticipated infrastructure revaluation increasing the council’s depreciation expenditure, mainly in roading and three waters.
Chairman Bruce Robertson said the council’s long-term plan was very focused on renewals and that was the flipside of the depreciation.
"The cost of ongoing renewal has gone up out the roof."
Cr Derek Chamberlain said spending money on capital projects such as renewing pipes was better than repairing them.
He expressed concerns about the future of the council’s finances, as it would probably need to borrow more money and potentially increase rates even more in the next year.
"The whole business model was flawed and unsustainable and I think that is what we should focus on," Cr Chamberlain said.
"How can we change that model? What do we focus on?"
Cr Don Byers agreed.
"A large part of the community can’t afford that we spend more, so we need to have a conversation about that," he said.
Mr Robertson acknowledged that was a challenge and said it was something to be discussed during the long-term plan discussions.
The report also stated the council achieved 78% of its services performance targets.
Of the 200 projects planned, 40% were completed within the year and 48% were still in progress.
The drafted report would now be released to Deloitte, who would complete its audit.
The committee was expected to receive the audited version on October 18, to have the final annual report be adopted by October 25.
