NPDC discusses targets and deficit

For a number of areas, the full impact of Covid-19 will not be known until the end of the financial year.

It should come as no surprise but now it’s official: coronavirus could be to blame if the New Plymouth District Council falls short in several target areas.

Those targets that might not be met include such things as the number of library members or gallery visitors, the number of events attracted to the area and response times to things such as complaints or service callouts.

At Tuesday’s Finance, Audit and Risk Committee meeting, councillors discussed the organisation’s third-quarter performance report to the end of March.

While most areas were on target at March 31, that was before a further six weeks of lockdown. During that time the district’s libraries, pools and service centres were closed. Things still aren’t entirely back to normal and many council staff are still working from home.

For a number of areas, the full impact of Covid-19 will not be known until the end of the financial year, the report stated.

This could mean that things on track in March will now not meet the target for the 2019/20 financial year.

Meanwhile, as of the end of March, the council recorded an accounting deficit of $36.6 million, compared to the predicted $0.9m at that point in the year.

A large part of that was a $23.8m loss from the Perpetual Investment Fund (PIF), caused by market volatility during the international Covid-19 crisis.

That loss was partially offset by a dividend of $0.4m from a financial services company.

Since the end of March, the PIF had recovered significantly, NPDC business services manager Alison Tristram-Rainey told the meeting.

The report also noted that the council’s external debt was $170.3m and that before level 4 the council drew down $7m to ensure it had access to cash during the crisis.