Open Council is in active development and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Noosa Council. The data shown may be incomplete or incorrect — always check Council's own published documents before relying on it.

Open Council Noosa
Sign in

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE REPORT – JUL 2024

Financial Services Manager , Pauline Coles · Financial Services | Corporate Services Department

Executive summary

Performance against current budget for the month of July 2024 aligns with YTD budget at this early stage of the new financial year. Note that budget review (BR1) carryovers (also included in the Council meeting agenda) have not yet been adopted and are excluded from these results. YTD Financial Performance Summary Budget Actual Variance Variance Status $m $m $m % Operating Revenue $53.7 $54.1 $0.4 0.7% On Track Operating Expense $12.3 $12.0 $0.3 2.6% On Track Operating Position $41.4 $42.1 $0.7 Capital Revenue $0.9 $2.0 $1.1 112.4% Above Budget Above Budget Capital Expenditure* $2.5 $3.1 ($0.6) (23.7%)

  • Reflects constructed assets and intangibles only (excludes contributed assets). The $0.7 million full year operating surplus comprises $0.3 million general operating surplus from activities that are funded through Council’s general rate, regulatory fees and sales of goods and services; as well an additional $0.1 million from holiday park operations and $0.4 million from waste operations, and a levy and separate charge funds which are constrained in reserve for future use currently under budget $0.1 million. Budget Variance Actual YTD Item

YTD

YTD

$m $m $m $31.3 General business operating position (unconstrained funds) $31.6 $0.3 $7.3 Commercial operations (constrained funds) * $7.8 $0.5 $2.8 Unspent levies (constrained funds) $2.7 ($0.1) $41.4 Total Council Operating Position $42.1 $0.7

  • Includes Waste and Holiday Park operations as shown in the table below Council has elected to apply National Competition Policy (NCP) reforms to its Waste Management and Holiday Parks which provides greater transparency and assists with removing anti-competitive conduct and ensure the best allocation of Councils limited resources. A summary of the YTD operational performance of these business activities are outlined below. Waste Operations Holiday Parks Budget Actual Variance Budget Actual Variance

YTD

YTD

YTD

YTD

YTD

YTD

$m $m $m $m $m $m Revenue 9.1 9.5 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.1 Expenditure 1.8 0.0 0.3 0.3 0.0 1.8 Net Operating Position 7.3 7.7 0.4 0.0 0.1 0.1 Financial statements including Statement of Income & Expenditure, Statement of Financial Position (balance sheet), and Statement of Cash Flows are included as attachments as further information for Council. Figure 1: Actual Performance Compared to Budget Council’s performance against key measures of financial sustainability has been calculated as at July 2024. These statutory indicators enable the reader to assess Council’s success in managing its budget, cash and debt as well as undertaking sustainable asset management. The table below contains a snapshot of a number of key measures, with full detail included in the report. YTD Measures of Financial Sustainability Current Target Actual YTD Status Budget Operating Surplus Ratio On Track > 0% 0.1% 77.9% Net Financial Liabilities Ratio On Track < 60% 0.7% -91.9% Cash Cover Ratio On Track 3 months 8.9 months 10.2 months On Track Asset Sustainability Ratio > 80% 102.7% 7.2%

Recommendation

That Council note the report by the Financial Services Manager to the General Committee Meeting dated 12 August 2024 outlining July 2024 year to date financial performance against budget, including changes to the financial performance report with the inclusion of key financial sustainability indicators.

Report

Operating Revenue (YTD Benchmark 8.33%) Council has received 39.0% ($54.1 million) of its operating revenue budget ($138.8 million). Commentary on each revenue category is provided below.

Category

Summary

Comments •

Rates and Levies $48.5 million (51.4%) Waste utility charges $160.1k above YTD of the annual budget of budget (51.2% or $8.7 million of $16.9 million $94.4 million has been annual budget earned) • earned General rate (net of discounts) $185.4k below YTD budget (51.6% or $36.8 million of $71.4 million annual budget earned) •

Fees and Charges $1.9 million (17.4%) of Building & Plumbing Compliance $85.8k the annual budget of above budget (14.5% or $376.5k of $2.6 $10.9 million has been million annual budget earned) • earned Property $18.2k above budget (14.4% or $104.9k of a 730.6k annual budget earned) • Local Laws $10.0k above budget (18.66% or $470.5k of $460.5k annual budget earned) • Development Assessment $33.1k below budget (23.46% or $840.4k of 3.6 million annual budget earned) •

Sale of Goods and $1.5 million (9.3%) of Waste Management fees $139.3k above

Services the annual budget of budget (9.3% or $719.3 million of $7.7 million $15.6 million has been annual budget earned) • earned Holiday Park revenue $87.2k above budget (9.09% or $364.6k of $4.0 million annual budget earned). Any revenue upside will be generally offset by a corresponding increase in associated operating costs. • Sports facility revenue $57.7k above budget (9.3% or $277.3k of $2.9 million annual budget earned) • Cultural facility revenue $26.3k above budget (10.5% or $62.5k of $596.1k annual budget earned) •

Interest Received $0.4 million (13.9%) of Interest revenues are tracking above budget the $3.1 million annual with investment in higher yielding term budget has been deposits maximising the return on surplus earned cash holdings. Cash holdings are higher compared that normal due to delays in the delivery of the capital works program and the advance payment of grants funding.

Category

Summary

Comments •

Other Revenue $0.2 million (5.8%) of Royalty and recoupment revenue $47.4k the $3.3 million annual above budget relating to waste management budget has been operations (35.4% or $47.4k of $174.9k annual earned budget earned) •

Operating Grants, $1.6 million (29.5%) of Operating Grants and subsidies is in line with

Subsidies the $5.5 million annual budget expectations at this stage. YTD budget has been variance relates to $65k Floating Land grant received and $75k for Disaster Recovery & Resilience Officer funding program • $1.4 million of the FY 2025 financial assistance grant allocation was received in July

This is a change from the previous approach of prepaying part or all of the grant in the prior year. Council is yet to receive confirmation of the full years funding allocation but previous advice from the department has been the funding amount allocated would decrease, as such there is the potential that this may impact Council's 2024/25 operating position. •

Unitywater On track Unitywater distributions are fixed each year so

Distributions there is limited budget variance risk

Figure 2: Operating Revenue Position by Type (Excluding Rates)

Operating Expenditure (YTD Benchmark 8.33%) Actual operating expenditure is currently 8.7% ($12.0 million) of full year budget ($138.7 million). Detailed commentary for each expenditure category is provided below.

Category

Summary

Comments •

Employee Costs $3.9 million (7.5%) of the Expenditure for permanent staff salaries annual budget of $52.5 and wages underspent ($179.7k) due to million has been expended position vacancies, partially offset by additional spend on casual staff and external labour hire ($99.2k). • Training costs are $4.9k under budget (5.7% or $20.9k of $371.1k annual budget spent)

Category

Summary

Comments •

Materials and $6.1 million (10.0%) of the Information Technologies Services $23.9k

Services $61.0 million annual budget above budget (8.8% or $468.8k of a $5.3 has been expended. million annual budget spent) • Buildings & Facilities $41.4k below budget (3.8% or $49.2k of $1.3 million annual budget spent) • Sports facilities are $27.1k below budget (5.4% or 84.9k or a $1.6 million annual budget spent) • Environmental services are $24.1k below budget (4.4% or $145.7k of a $3.3 million annual budget spent) •

Finance Costs Currently on track Whilst existing loan borrowings are set with fixed interest rates, any further RBA rate rises will impact finance costs on new loan borrowings.

Depreciation Currently on track Nil

Other Expenses Currently on track Nil

Figure 3: Operating Expenditure Position by Type

Tourism and Economic Development Investment Summary Council resolved to report on a monthly basis, investment details for tourism and economic development. Expenditure at 31 July 2024 is outlined below:

Expenditure

YTD Budget

YTD Actual

Variance

$’000 $’000

$’000 - Tourism Noosa Funding Agreement $1,260 $1,260 - Economic Development $67 $67 -

Total

$1,327 $1,327 Tourism and economic development activity is funded through the general rates. The first instalments payable under the Tourism Noosa agreement for the 2024-25 financial year was made in July 2024.

Capital Revenue Full Year Capital revenue of $2.0 million received comprises cash contributions from developers ($0.4m) and capital grants ($1.6 million). Note that the timing of capital grant receipts are generally dependent on the timing of grant conditions and also capital delivery performance, and that the timing of the receipt of developer contributions (both cash and contributed) is unpredictable.

Figure 6: Capital Revenue by Type

Capital Program Actual capital expenditure (excluding commitments) is $3.1 million (YTD budget $2.5 million). Detailed discussion of progress in the delivery of the capital works program is provided through a separate quarterly report by the infrastructure team.

Figure 7: Capital Program Delivery Performance

Cash Management and Investment Performance Total cash on hand at the end of March was $95.9 million. Included in this balance are funds held in trust and for restricted purposes (e.g. unexpended levy and grant funds), prepaid grants including the financial assistance grant, QRA disaster funding and other capital works grants, prepayment of Waste Levy subsidy (3 years), and unspent monies committed for funding capital projects which are underway and will continue during the financial year. The following pie charts present the mix of cash held at July 2024 by agency (graph on the left) and by credit risk rating (graph on the right). All funds have been invested in accordance with Council's Investment Policy and in consideration of the principles of ethical investment, preservation of capital, return on investment and counterparty thresholds.

Figure 8: Closing Cash Held by Agency and Credit Rating The following chart monitors the 12 month trend on total cash and the agencies invested. To maximise the return on in its cash holdings Council has invested $40 million in higher yielding term deposits. These investments were made in line with Council’s Investment of Surplus Funds policy.

Figure 9: 12 Month Trend of Cash Invested by Agency

Measures of Financial Sustainability The following table incorporates a set of financial sustainability indicators to further assist in managing Council financial performance. There are no current emerging risks regarding performance noting the early stage of the financial year.

Category

Comments •

Operating Surplus Ratio

Intent: Identifies the extent to which revenues cover operational expenses, to ensure community equity is not degraded •

Target: Greater than 0% •

Result: 77.9% •

Comment: The high ratio reflects the levying of rates in July, which will degrade as expenditure occurs on operations through the financial year to 30 June 2025. •

Cash Expense Cover

Intent: Indicates how long council can continue paying its day-to-day expenses from cash at bank without needing additional cash flows •

Target: Greater than 3 months •

Result: 10.2 months •

Comment: Current cash cover remains above target, while business as usual expenditure through to 30 June 2025 will degrade Council’s cash holdings, albeit not below the target range of 3 – 6 months. Cash balances include funding for capital programs, unspent grant monies paid in advance, Waste Levy subsidy prepayments and QRA advance payments for disaster projects which are restricted for specific purposes and inflate the ratio. •

Asset Sustainability Ratio

Intent: Measures the extent to which assets are being replaced as their condition degrades to ensure service potential is maintained •

Target: 80% of depreciation budget spent on renewals annually • Result: In line with budget. •

Comment: The capital program has only just commenced. It is expected that the ratio will progressively increase each month as expenditure on renewals occurs.

Category

Comments •

Net Financial Liabilities Ratio

Intent: Outlines the level that net Council debt can be serviced by operating revenues.

A

ratio below zero implies that liabilities are less than cash (and other current assets) and there is adequate borrowing capacity available if needed. •

Target: less than 60% •

Result: (91.9%) •

Comment: Council has low debt levels and strong cash holdings. The July rates revenue also inflates the YTD actual outcome. •

Investment Return

Intent: Ensure appropriate return on investment yield for cash at bank. •

Target: 0.25% above current Bloomberg commonwealth 10- year bond rate yield (4.37%) •

Result: 5.53% •

Comment: With higher than normal cash balances and bond rates, Council has invested surplus cash in higher yielding term deposits to maximise returns. Council's investment returns remain above target. •

Rates in Arrears

Intent: Ensuring that the amount of unpaid rates remains sustainable and does not negatively impact cash flows •

Target: 5% industry benchmark •

Result: 3.9% •

Comment: Rates arrears are in line with performance for the previous 6 and 12 monthly cycles.

Report details

Index: ECM/ Subject / 22.09 – Monthly Financial Performance Report