MidCoast Council Mayor, Claire Pontin says the findings of the NSW Auditor-General’s recent Performance Audit Report of the Council were not a surprise to staff or councillors.
The Financial Management and Governance in MidCoast Council audit report detailed the challenges faced by the Council and highlighted inadequacies in its procedures between July 2019 and June 2022.
“These findings were not a surprise to staff or Councillors. Merging four corporate and financial systems into one is a complicated exercise and has taken considerable time and resources,” said Mayor Pontin.
“As well as highlighting these procedural inadequacies, the Report also documents the continuing improvements that have been made by Council during this period to resolve these issues.”
She said the report accurately reflected the journey Council has been on since the NSW Government merger of the four previous entities into one – Great Lakes, Gloucester Shire and Greater Taree City Councils and MidCoast Water.
“The report is critical of delays in finalising a reliable Long-Term Financial Plan (LTFP). This plan depends heavily on accurate and reliable asset information. We have spent the last few years verifying and revaluing all our assets.”
“While the former entities had asset management systems in place, they were not of sufficient quality or consistency to provide the level of confidence required for longer-term financial modelling.
“I am pleased that these asset management plans are nearing completion, and we will be considering them at our Ordinary Council meeting [this week],” the Mayor said.
Council also be considering an updated Long-Term Financial Plan at the meeting.
“This Plan has, for some time, indicated that we face challenges in our General Fund (which covers our transport assets, open spaces, and all our community services), with predicted future deficits,” she said.
“This is primarily due to our reliance on grant funding and our inherited backlog for roads and other public infrastructure maintenance and renewals. Our cashflows, however, are strong.”
Councillors last year called for a Financial Sustainability Strategy, which is being actioned and will be reported at the end of this calendar year.
“At the same time, Council is undertaking service reviews with a view to optimising service delivery to our community, eliminating unnecessary expenditure, and identifying opportunities to generate additional non-rate revenue streams.”
“We welcome the Report and the additional insights it has provided and will continue to implement the recommended improvements,” the Mayor said.
