The South Taranaki District Council has come in 5 per cent under its operational financial budget, which chief executive Craig Harrison said showed what an amazing team was on board at the council.
"I have incredible managers who are very aware of how to control their budgets ... this is wonderful, having a surplus."
It was all about the council's overall financial performance, particularly the constraint shown on expenditure, he said.
The Quarterly Report showed the council was a prudent and lean organisation which had tight controls on spending, he said.
"Council's operational expenditure is on track to be at or under budget and if the Long Term Investment Fund [LTIF] continues to perform like it has, we will end the year with a very strong surplus".
Any surplus income generated by the LTIF will be reinvested to inflation-proof the fund's capital sum and to build a reserve for times when the fund's investments are performing poorly, Mr Harrison said.
"Last year our LTIF wasn't in such good shape but this year it is just fantastic. We have extremely good experts handling it."
Key features of the Quarterly Report included:
•Total operating expenditure was 5 per cent ($2,124,332) below budget
•The gross time-weighted return for the Long Term Investment Fund (LTIF) in the quarter was 5.4 per cent. This meant as at March 31 the invested assets of the fund totalled $114.03 million
•In the Year to date the LTIF made $15,151,402 which was $8,421,523 higher than budgeted (125 per cent increase)
•Total Income was up 18 per cent (due mainly to capital contributions being up and the strong performance of the LTIF. Income from user fees and charges, targeted rates grants and subsidies were down).