Auditor-General Report Shows NMC in Healthy Financial Position

Posted on April 22, 2022

Mayor of Northern Midlands Council Mary Knowles OAM today welcomed the latest report by the Auditor-General which confirms the Council is in a healthy financial position.

The Auditor-General’s report of the audit of the financial statements of State entities for the 2020-21 released last month found Northern Midlands had substantially improved its position on previous years and had a net surplus of $6.8 million and net assets of $409.27 million.

Mayor Knowles said the value of the audit report was that it allowed councils to benchmark their performance against other similar councils.

“It is therefore pleasing to note that the report found Northern Midlands had a bigger surplus and level of net assets than any of the state’s 18 rural councils.

Mayor Knowles said council would maintain the healthy financial position into the current years with a Budget framed to help recovery from the social and financial shocks caused by Covid-19 while aiming to deliver a small operating surplus.

The audit showed Northern Midlands capital expenditure averaged 58.2 per cent of budget for the last two years.

“As the audit report notes, the reasons for the difference between budgeted and actual capital expenditure during these years results from changed priorities and circumstances and difficulties in engaging engineers, contractors and materials to undertake or complete jobs due to high demand and competition for resources due to Covid-19 stimulation measures in the past two years,” Mayor Knowles said.

“In the current year, Council’s total capital works program is $23.7 million, however for similar reasons a number of substantial projects will be carried forward into 2022-23,” she said.

For further information, please contact Mayor Mary Knowles OAM on 0408 766 625.