It was a moment to celebrate, said Administrator Rik Hart.
He was talking about the Investment Report for November 2021 which showed that Central Coast Council had enough money in its unrestricted funds to meet its deficit for internally restricted funds.
Hart said it was only a point in time and Council would probably go back into deficit in the next couple of months but technically the organisation had repaid in 12 months the $200M of restricted funds spent without permission in the leadup to the suspension of Councillors in October 2020.
He expected that by the end of the financial year, the debt would be fully repaid.
He was speaking at the December 20 extraordinary meeting where he adopted the staff recommendation for Council to allocate the required unrestricted funds available in the General Fund to meet its November 2021 restricted funds deficit of $42.73M.
He said there was $48.5m in unrestricted funds at this moment in time and that would ebb and flow.
Council had $572M in consolidated funds.
“During October, Council’s total cash and investments increased by $39.60M from $532.27M to $571.87M predominantly from quarterly rates instalments received at the end of November (sic),’’ Council said in
commenting on its Investment Report for November.
“Normal cash inflows were adequate to meet Council’s expenditure requirements for the month,” Council said.
Hart also adopted the monthly Finance Report for November which showed Council’s financial performance for the financial year to November 30, 2021 was tracking well.
Council’s operating surplus (which excludes special purpose grants and contributions for investment in capital expenditure projects) was $32.4M for the five months, representing a $15.8M favourable variance compared to the $16.6M budget surplus.
CEO David Farmer said the $15M variance was mainly due to not filling vacant positions.
“It provides us with a buffer,” he said but he anticipated it would reduce to a much smaller surplus but overall, the Council was travelling very well.
Hart said Council was tracking at a steady pace as the organisation continued its path of prudent financial management.
“We promised our community that we would deliver on our financial recovery plan and provide a clear line of sight into our financial management, and that is what we are doing,” Hart said.
More than a dozen reports about the finances were attached to the two reports.
For more information go to “Monthly Finance Report” at centralcoast.nsw.gov.au.
Merilyn Vale
If the restricted funds have been repaid and the Administrator says we are back on track then we should be considering bringing back elected Councillors?
I see the CEO and administrator are still shedding staff and just before Christmas that does not seem to be in the seasons spirit and yet a month ago they were bleating they can’t employ staff? It would appear that the agenda is getting rid of employees to increase the bottom line.
They spend thousands of dollars producing a survey that tailors the answers to their agenda without any options or alternatives. Increase rates and charges and extend the pain for the next decade.