Central Otago District Council’s balance sheet has grown by nearly $92M in a single year, driven largely by asset revaluations and the rezoning of key land in Cromwell. 

At the final council meeting of the year on Wednesday (December 17), councillors adopted the 2024/25 Annual Report, confirming an operating surplus of $7.9M and a significant increase in the paper value of council-owned assets. 

The headline figure was a $91.8M gain from asset revaluations across the district.  

An accompanying report presented at the meeting said a major contributor was the rezoning of the Bannockburn forestry block from rural to industrial, which increased the value of that land by $26.8M since its last valuation in 2022. 

Parks and reserves also recorded a sharp uplift, increasing by $23.06M. 

That represented a 31.69 per cent rise in replacement cost values.

Meanwhile roading assets rose by $41.27M. 

Chief financial officer Paul Morris told councillors Audit New Zealand had “signed it off” after earlier verbally approving the report. 

However, responding to comments from mayor Tamah Alley’s about public expectations for transparency, Paul acknowledged the density of the financial statements made them difficult for the average ratepayer to digest. 

"This is definitely a technical document that I wouldn't expect in its current form to be easily read," he said. 

The final operating surplus was reported at $7.925M, slightly lower than the $8.169M forecast in the annual plan. 

The report attributed the variance to changes in subsidy income, grant funding, and interest revenue, alongside higher than expected personnel, finance, and other operating costs. 

Capital expenditure for the year sat at $50.6M, which was $18.8M lower than the original annual plan.  

The report said 74.5 per cent of the revised capital budget had been spent, with delays to some projects pushing work into the current financial year. 

Among those was the Alexandra Library upgrade.

In contrast, the Cromwell Memorial Hall project was reported as tracking well and sitting ahead of the 2024/25 budget allocation. 

Councillors voted to adopt the report and authorised the mayor and chief executive to sign the accounts.