1 Table of contents… 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 A message from the mayor and chief executive ........................................................................................................................................... 4 What’s an Annual Report? ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Council’s strategic direction................................................................................................................................................................................... 10 Key highlights/executive summary .................................................................................................................................................................... 12 Summary activity report ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 30 Financial overview .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 32 Annual Report disclosure statement/financial prudence benchmarks ............................................................................................... 38 Shared services Annual Report statement ..................................................................................................................................................... 44 Opportunities for Māori to contribute to decision-making ...................................................................................................................... 52 Statement of compliance and responsibility ................................................................................................................................................. 57 Auditors’ report .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 58 About Council ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 62 . 2 2. Council activities .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 70 Community services ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 72 District leadership ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 84 Emergency management ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 110 Regulatory services .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 116 Roading and footpaths ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 126 Solid waste .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 132 Stormwater .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 138 Wastewater .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 144 Water supply ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 150 Council-controlled organisations ....................................................................................................................................................................... 158 3. Our finances .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 174 Accounting policies ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 176 Financial statements ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 187 Funding impact statement (whole of Council) ....................................................................................................................................................... 193 Notes to financial statements ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 195 3 Southland Community-led development is about the Council is supporting community boards to it’s a big picture... community (and groups within it, including focus on the future and think about wider Council) coming together to nurture the communities of interest based on geography Message from Mayor Gary Tong and development of their ‘place’. By encouraging and issues. chief executive Steve Ruru and supporting communities to help This acknowledges that community boards are themselves, we believe we can build a much part of the bigger District-wide picture. We’re pleased to introduce Southland District Council’s Annual Report stronger Southland. We’ve been looking at how we do for 2018/2019. This was the first year of our 2018 Long Term Plan Since the beginning of the 2016-2019 things to ensure long-term sustainability and and much of what we have done has been about working with our triennium, Council has been making changes affordability of services across the District, communities and focusing on the future. to its governance structure - in particular, and to encourage boards to lead and address revised terms of reference for community This was part of a process that started in 2015 when we began a various community-wide initiatives. Community Governance Project to look at the way in which we boards and community development area provide leadership to our communities, via our elected representative subcommittees (CDAs), a revised committee Previously there were some grey areas in the structures, and also how we support the community to create its own structure and a new way of working with District which did not fall within the boundary future via community-led development. community boards. of a local community board or CDA. 4 As a result of our representation review we have redrawn the boundaries to create nine new community boards that will enable all Southland District residents to have access to local decision-making and political representation. It was important the changes to our elected representative structures were synchronised with Council’s approach of devolving more decision-making to communities themselves. Part of that process involves working with communities to develop future-focused community board plans that will outline the priorities each community board has for the communities they represent. Ultimately, the goals communities set will align with Council’s planning processes, helping to inform our activity management plans and Long Term Plan (LTP). “Our collaborative In the past year we continued to participate in a range of significant work with communities multi-agency projects aimed at delivering extends beyond positive outcomes for Southland District. Among these were Stewart Island traditional Council Rakiura Future Opportunities, Milford Opportunities, Predator Free Rakiura and structures.” Whakamana o te Waituna. 5 Southland it’s a big picture... Message from Mayor Gary Tong and chief executive Steve Ruru Council was instrumental in securing government funding for several community initiatives relating to improved tourism infrastructure and provincial growth. Among these were the Te Anau wastewater upgrade, the new car park at Lake Manapouri, new rest facilities around the Southern Scenic Route and the Stewart Island/Rakiura future opportunities work. The funding secured will help to reduce the cost to our ratepayers of . providing the services and infrastructure they