Liverpool Council says it is in an exceptionally strong financial position after an independent audit found it is $13 million better off than this time last year.
Council auditors Price Waterhouse Coopers confirmed Council has turned an $8.2 million budget deficit 12 months ago into a $4.6 million surplus.
“If council’s coffers dried up today we would still be in a strong enough financial position to remain operational for up to 10 months, whereas the state benchmark is only three,” said Council CEO Carl Wulff.
The PWC auditor gave a glowing financial report card and said Liverpool Council is operating above the average of the 21 other Sydney councils audited by PWC.
“PWC has confirmed that council is in a very strong, sound financial position,” Mr Wulff said.
“This reinforces what good shape we are in going forward, and confirms IPART’s ruling that we are financially fit.”
Council’s total income earned in 2014-15 was $247.3 million, which was up from a total of $185.8 million the previous year.
Close to half of this ($108 million) was derived from rates and charges, and a further $44.5 million from grants and contributions.
Mr Wulff said deriving income from contributions – such as those paid by developers – plays a pivotal role in ensuring that they, and not ratepayers, contribute to the cost of funding important infrastructure projects.
“We continually look for new ways to maximise returns on our investments so that we can save ratepayers money.”
Mr Wulff said Ccuncil ranked above Office of Local Government benchmarks for a number of key cash and asset management criteria, including its infrastructure backlog – which it reduced from $63 million to $60 million.
PWC also conducted tests on council’s IT and accounting systems, as well as its internal audit functions and overall governance framework, and found these to be in good shape.
What a great story, especially after other councilors promoted on this page go around crying how bad the economic position of council is. The proof is here Clr Ristevski, and it shows Liverpool is running better than ever!