Last Year’s Report 2018‒2019 Te Rīpoata ā Tau Annual Report Te Kaunihera o Te Tairāwhiti Gisborne District Council Adopted by Council on 26 September 2019 ISSN 1171-4573 (Print) ISSN 2624-1498 (Online) OUR VISION Tairāwhiti Tairāwhiti First Tairāwhiti Tangata First to see the light Tairāwhiti Taonga First choice for people and lifestyle Tairāwhiti Wawata First choice for enterprise and innovation First place for the environment, culture and heritage. 15 Fitzherbert Street, Gisborne 4010, New Zealand @GisborneDC www.gdc.govt.nz 0800 653 800 [email protected] Contents About this report 3 Mayor and Chief Executive’s Foreword 5 Our Major Projects 7 Our District Highlights 12 Our Performance 16 Finances at a glance 18 Audit report 22 Our District 25 Our Strategic Direction 28 Our Financial Strategy 29 Our Activities 31 Contents page 32 How to read this section 33 Governance and Support Services 34 Governance and Democracy Support 34 Support Services 37 Environmental Services and Protection 42 Resource Consents 42 Gisborne District Council Building Services 44 Enforcement 46 Science 49 Environmental Health 54 Infrastructure Services 57 Urban Stormwater 57 | 2018/19 Annual Report Wastewater 60 Water Supply 63 Land, Rivers and Coastal 66 Tairāwhiti Roads 69 Solid Waste 74 Contents Communities 79 Cultural Activities 79 Recreation and Amenity 83 Planning and Development 86 Customer Engagement 86 Emergency Management 88 Strategic Planning and Performance 91 Commercial Operations 95 Commercial Operations 95 Our Finances 97 Statement of Compliance and Responsibility 100 Statement of Comprehensive Revenue and Expenses for the year ended 30 June 2019 101 Statement Concerning Balanced Budget for the year ended 30 June 2019 102 Statement of Financial Position as at 30 June 2019 103 Statement of Changes in Equity for the year ended 30 June 2019 105 Statement of Cash Flow for the year ended 30 June 2019 106 Statement of Involvement in CCOs and Other Companies 107 Notes to the Financial Statements 107 Funding Impact Statement 146 Appendices 156 Our Council - Governance and Structure 157 Schedule of Councillors, Senior Management Schedule of Agents 159 | 2018/19 Annual Report Gisborne District Council About this report Long Term Plan The Long Term Plan - (LTP) is a strategic planning This Annual Report tells the story of our performance over document. It is Gisborne District Council’s commitment the last financial year from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019. to you and your community. It tells you what activities It's an important way of informing our communities about and projects the Council is planning over the period of how we spent their rates. It also highlights the areas we the plan, how much they will cost and how we are going performed well in, the areas we need to improve and to pay for them. Government requires all councils to provides context for where we need to head in the future. come up with a LTP and review it every three years to The report is divided into the following sections: make sure we are accountable. This Annual Report covers Year One of the 2018-2028 Long Term Plan: Our Our year (Mayor and Chief Executive's district Future Plan highlights) - this includes our district highlights, a financial overview and the audit opinion. Annual Plan Each year Council is required to have an Annual Plan Our district, our direction - this section highlights the which sets out the budget for the year. This is based on unique nature of Gisborne district and tells you what is committed to in the LTP but also highlights any about Council's strategic direction. projected change or variance from the LTP. Our activities - this section highlights each of The first year of a LTP does not require a separate Annual Council’s activities, their performance and how Plan but the second and third years must have an Annual much we spent on the activities. Plan. Council is not required to formally consult on the Annual Plan, unless a material or significant change to Our finances - this section provides you with all the the LTP is proposed. financial statements and accompanying notes that provide more detail. Annual Report Every year we are required to produce an Annual Report Understanding planning and reporting cycles which reports against our Annual and Long Term Plans (in this case Year One of the 2018-2028 Long Term Plan). 3 The following is an overview of our planning and reporting It is the key accountability document for our communities framework and how it all fits together with the Annual and it explains how we spent your rates and the value Report. that you received in return. The reporting cycle is illustrated below: Gisborne District Council | 2018/19 Annual Report Tō Tātou Tau Our Year Mayor and Chief Executive’s Foreword Tairāwhiti tēnā koutou upgrades to the Waipaoa Flood Scheme which will be a project we report on for the next 10 years. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa, ngā tāngata o Our achievements to date have not been without Te Tairāwhiti. challenges. We suffered from a major weather event in 5 June 2018. Floods along with forestry slash devastated We are proud of the work Council has achieved over the Uawa/Tolaga Bay region requiring work to restore the last financial year and are pleased to present to you the environment, address damage to properties and our Annual Report for the 2018/19 financial year. urgent repairs to our roading network. Challenges such as these and our ability to be responsive has seen a First we wish to acknowledge 2018/19 as the last year of change in our delivery model. Meng’s 18 years of service to Council as he steps down from the Mayors seat. In August, Meng took up the role We’ve focused attention on our regulatory responsibilities. appointed by government as the Race Relations Council’s consent numbers have significantly increased Commissioner. Rehette Stoltz has taken over as Mayor across both regional and district consents including until the local elections in October 2019. forestry, water and land use. In September we secured significant government investment to repair and build We wish to acknowledge Meng’s commitment and resilience in our roading infrastructure. In early 2019 we dedication to the work of Council and our community. dissolved our partnership with the Transport Agency to In his time as Mayor we have achieved a lot – advances bring responsibility for local roads back in house. Gisborne District Council in wastewater treatment, safe cycleway networks, celebration of our region’s heritage – and 2018/19 has We also asked our community to pay more for essential seen many of these successes come to fruition. infrastructure required, increasing our rates from 2% to 5%. Rates affordability continues to be a key issue for our In the past year we have been recognised nationally for community. Council’s major task, prior to our next Long our collaborative and innovative ways to engage with Term Plan, is to consider our rating system and how our our community through our WTF? What’s the Future rates are distributed. campaign. Our partnership with iwi to celebrate our history and culture through Tūpapa – Our Stand. Our Story We performed financially better than what we planned, ending the year with $4.4m more net surplus than was was also recognised by the local government sector. | 2018/19 Annual Report Construction of the historic interpretations began in 2018 expected. We received significant grants for capital along with the suite of projects that celebrate our unique projects that was secured after the adoption of the Long culture and navigational heritage. The inner harbour and Term Plan 2018-2028. This enabled us to complete more Puhi Kai Iti Cook Landing Site will be completed in time resilient works on our roads and more development for Tuia 250 commemorations in October. around our inner harbour, far more than we would have otherwise been able to do without the external funds. We continued to restore our maunga Titirangi, sharing knowledge and kaitiakitanga with the community. We We repaired 40% of the estimated damage caused by educated homeowners on being drain wise as part of the June 2018 cyclones at a cost of $10.2m, fully funded the project to reduce overflows. We kicked off the by central government. Mayor and Chief Executive’s Foreword Council’s debt position is still on track, coming in $2.6m lower than where we expected to be. We invite you to read more in our Annual Report as we reflect on the past year. As Mayor and Chief Executive we wish to acknowledge councillors and staff for a job well done, and we look forward to making progress together and making our people proud in the year to come. Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini. My strength is not that of a single warrior but that of many. Mayor Chief Executive Rehette Stoltz Nedine Thatcher Swann 6 | 2018/19 Annual Report Gisborne District Council Our Major Projects Walking and Cycling Lawson Field Theatre Council, together with the NZ Transport Agency and Built in 1982, the Lawson Field Theatre was assessed in community partners, are delivering projects and initiatives 2012 as earthquake-prone and closed in October 2016 with a focus on creating safer, more efficient walking to undergo earthquake strengthening. In addition, the and cycling routes. theatre is receiving an upgrade to its exterior and facilities. Stage 2 of the Wainui cycle and walkway from Sponge Bay to Endcliffe Road was completed in February 2019. Construction and strengthening works began in July 2018. The $1.7m project was fully funded by the NZ Transport The building was strengthened to IL3 standard and Agency through the National Land Transport Fund.