Our Revenue and Financing Policy sets out how we use our revenue and financing sources to fund our activities (work). This is a requirement of the Local Government Act. For all of our activities, we assess the:
- Community outcomes the activity primarily contributes to
- Distribution of benefits between the community as a whole, any identifiable part of the community and individuals
- The period in or over which benefits are expected to occur
- The extent to which the actions or inactions of particular individuals or a group contribute to the need to undertake the activity
- The costs and benefits, including consequences for transparency and accountability, of funding the Activity distinctly from other Activities
- The overall impact of any allocation of liability for revenue needs in the community
The Act also sets out where we can get our funding from, which as well as collecting income from rates (both General and Targeted) includes:
- Lump sum contributions
- Fees and charges
- Interest and dividends from investment
- Borrowings
- Proceeds from asset sales
- Development contributions
- Financial contributions under the Resource Management Act 1991
- Grants and Subsidies
- Any other source
For operational expenditure (the day to day spending that maintains the services we deliver) our preferred order of funding sources for how that work is funded is:
- Grants, subsidies, sponsorship and other sources of revenue
- Fees and charges where benefit can be assigned to individuals
- Financial contributions (not currently used)
- Targeted rates where benefit can be assigned geographically or to itemise specific rates requirements
- Investment income (interest and dividends)
- General rates including UAGC
- Reserves
- Borrowing
For capital expenditure (costs associated with purchasing, improving and replacing assets), our preferred order of funding sources is:
- Proceeds from the sale of assets
- Grants, subsidies, sponsorship and other sources of revenue that directly apply to the given asset
- Reserves and/or borrowing depending which is the most efficient source of funding
A breakdown of how each activity is funded is available in our Revenue and Financing Policy.