Rotorua Lakes Council holds first meeting

The Rotorua Lakes Council will meet today.

The first meeting of the Rotorua Lakes Council will be held today from 9.30am with just two items on the public agenda.

For their first meeting, councillors are expected to confirm a schedule of meetings for the rest of the year and sign off on the council's annual report for the year ended June 30, 2016.

They will also discuss a recommendation regarding "event contract support" behind closed doors.

According to an agenda report prepared by council chief financial officer Thomas Colle, the annual report must be adopted within four months of the end of the financial year and contain an auditor's report on the financial statements and overall compliance of the document.

"The 2016 financial year is the second year post the financial review of council's finances and the introduction of a new financial framework.

"The budgets for the year included a $1 million efficiency target in operating expenditure following the $8.3m the year before.

"Council ended the year within the operating budget but impacted significantly by non-cash adjustments completed as part of the annual report.

"The Statement of Comprehensive Revenue and Expense presents an operating deficit of $4.3m against a budget surplus of $0.8m.

"While the underlying cash result was better than budget it has been impacted by non-cash write-downs and impairment of fixed assets of $3.6m, along with revenue associated with funding capital expenditure being down by $2.8m," Mr Colle's report stated.

"When considering overall funding, council ended the year $12m better off, in that we planned to borrow $7m but instead ended the year with $5m surplus funds of which $1.9m was used to repay debt."

- Matthew Martin