Council
2 August, 2024
Capital works program on track
MOYNE Shire’s extensive capital works program is tracking well, with additional expenditure and increased productivity when compared to last year.
The monthly financial report shows 92 per cent of planned works for 2023/24 are complete, compared to 70 per cent in the previous year.
Mayor Cr Ian Smith said teams had delivered $29.9 million in capital works.
“That’s an increase in expenditure of $3.5 million and represents a 15 per cent jump in productivity,” Cr Smith said.
“Projects have included the Macarthur splashpad and playground, Koroit township renewal, the Remote Road Upgrade Pilot Project in the Chatsworth area and electrical upgrades at Port Fairy’s Garden’s Caravan Park.
“Reducing the amount of carry forward projects has been a focus for councillors over the past year and this is a credit to our team members who have worked hard to deliver them.”
Cr Smith said the establishment of a centralised project management office within council, together with improved monitoring and forecasting, had led to the strong result.
The preliminary end of financial year statements also showed council had cash and investments of $14.2 million and key financial indicators remain solid.
Cr Smith said the preliminary financial result for the year ended June 30, 2024 was a forecast Underlying Deficit of $8.5 million.
“Annual Federal Assistance Grants arrive at different times during the year,” Cr Smith said.
“The $10.4 million grant for the 2023/24 financial year was received and recorded in the 2022/23 financial year, creating an anomalous transaction for the current financial statements.
“An underlying position is an accounting term which shows a financial result when non-recurrent funding is removed from calculations.”
Cr Smith said that, for council, this was capital grant funding from state and federal governments which were allocated to specific projects.
“If the $10.4 million Federal Assistance Grant had been received in the 2023/24 reporting period, the result would have been a favourable $1.9 million Underlying Operating Surplus.”
