In the last financial year, the council collected $85.3 million in rates, a $34 million surplus for the financial year ending June 30, down from $65.2 million from the previous financial year.
The money went towards repairing 8096 potholes, collecting 12,000 tonnes of rubbish, 5100 tonnes of recycling and 8800 tonnes of organics, supplying 8.89 million cubic metres of water to households and treating 4.12 million cubic metres of wastewater.
The council’s key projects completed included upgrades to Rolleston town centre, the Darfield pool, ReDiscover Hub at Pines Resource Recovery Park in Burnham, and the opening of Kakaha Park in Prebbleton.
Despite the $34 million surplus, residents will not see a decrease in rates with funds being used for future investment. Of the surplus, $9.6 million came from development.
The council charges development contributions to ensure developers pay a fair share of the cost of providing additional infrastructure to service growth demands.
“Population growth in the district exceeded budget expectations leading to a continued fast-paced housing development sector,” council executive director for enabling services Tim Harris said in the annual report.
The council’s core operating expenditure for the year was $165.9 million – $16.6 million over the budget.
The overspend was attributed to a range of things including extra road maintenance costs due to flooding, consulting fees, and revaluing of assets.
Mayor Sam Broughton received a salary of $144,347, deputy mayor Malcolm Lyall received $61,647 and councillors received $51,374.
Chief executive David Ward, who retired on June 30, was paid $435,847 compared to $364,859 in the 2021/22 financial year.
All remunerations, including the car, were approved by the Remuneration Authority.
The number of people employed by the council increased from 509 to 586.
The council’s core revenue for the year was $198.7 million, $25.5 million higher than the predicted $173.2 million.
The council spent $17.019 million on operating costs for the transport network and $24.63 million on capital expenditure projects upgrading the network.
The council maintained more than 3000km of roads, footpaths, and cycleways, 2487km of bridges, and 8,856 streetlights.
The council completed 12,541km of grading on unsealed roads, 72km of sealed and unsealed road renewals, 3300m of footpath renewals, 350m of kerb and channel renewals, 113m of culvert renewals, 2623m of footpath extensions and 3504m of shared path construction.
The council failed to meet its resealing target of 75km, only resealing 23.66km.
The report said: “An increased focus on maintenance was required and this, together with the increasing costs of resurfacing, meant only a small amount of resealing was completed.”
The council spent $35.331 million on operating costs for its community facilities, including parks, community centres, sports centres, swimming pools and libraries, and $15.249 million on capital expenditure projects, upgrading and building new facilities.
The council provided and maintained 591 reserves and playgrounds, and 748ha of recreation reserves.
It recorded 460,865 admissions at Selwyn Aquatic Centre in the last financial year, with 21,532 people attending council events, and 80,340 attendees at fitness programmes.
During the financial year, 2688 building consents were issued and 706 resource consent applications were processed.
Of those consents, 77 per cent of resource consents were issued on time and 60 per cent of building consents were issued on time.
In the past financial year residents have reduced the amount of rubbish going to landfill, achieving a 11 per cent reduction in total waste to landfill per capita and achieved a 30 per cent reduction in contamination of kerbside recycling. The council spent $14.143 million on operating costs for waste management.
Eighty per cent of residential properties in Selwyn are serviced with water and 67 per cent of residential properties are serviced by the council’s wastewater systems.
The council spent $12.013 million on operating costs for water and wastewater, and $10.465 million on capital expenditure projects upgrading the network.
“Residents tend to be high users of water, using an average of 0.367m3 of water per person a day in the 2022/23 year,” the report said.
“This can be attributed to mostly outdoor use; residents tend to have larger sections and therefore wish to maintain these sections – with comparatively low rainfall free-draining soils, water use has historically been high.”
