Councillor attendance, debt and the organisation’s achievements - and non-achievements - are all part of an annual look-back Rotorua Lakes Council’s elected members have just approved.

Rotorua Lakes Council approved its Annual Report 2024 on Thursday afternoon.

The report details the performance of the council and its organisations from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, including highlights, challenges, progress and expenditure.

The council ended the financial year with a “stable” outlook. It ended with a AA- credit rating and an operating surplus of $2.2 million.

It had budgeted for a $20.7m surplus.

Rising interest rates, central Government changes and climate change were listed among new issues impacting its finances, while old issues included elevated operating expenditure, costs associated with staff recruitment and retention, supply and resource shortages and the global economic decline.

The council’s debt increased by $96m from the previous year, reaching a total of $447m, which it said was driven by investment into major capital projects.

Of the 55 KPIs reported on, 55 per cent were achieved and 36 per cent were not achieved with 9 per cent not measured. In comparison, in 2022-2023, 58 per cent of KPIs were achieved, 33 per cent not achieved and 9 per cent not measured.

The not achieved performance measures included being about 730 houses short of the target of 1800 built since July 2021. It considered the 1070 built still a “very positive result” considering headwinds in the housing sector.

“The local house construction sector continues to ‘ramp-up’ with another annual record for Rotorua achieved, 436 dwellings constructed in 2023-2024,” the report said.

Another shortfall was in the resource and building consents department, which had a target to process consents within 20 working days.

Building consents were almost there at 96.2 per cent but subdivision consents were at 31.5 per cent and land use consents were at 40.5 per cent.

Resourcing was cited as the reason for target non-achievement.

Areas of achievement included 100 per cent compliance with resource consent conditions at the landfill and bacterial targets for drinking water safety, and 29-minute response times to faults on its reticulation system. The target was 60 minutes.

Councillors who achieved 100 per cent meeting attendance were Gregg Brown, Karen Barker and mayor Tania Tapsell.

Council work influenced by ‘unprecedented financially challenging times’

Tapsell’s message detailed how, “as promised” it worked to make the city a better place for all.

Its key focus areas included “rebuilding its reputation”, with community safety and emergency housing issues impacting this.

“We’ve focused on delivering local solutions here and have seen great improvements as a result.”

Tapsell listed its work with police on opening the Inner City Community Safety Hub, how it actioned its community safety plan, and the subsequent “rapid reduction” in CBD crime.

“There’s also been a big improvement in emergency housing with close to a 70 per cent reduction in emergency housing motels and around a 50 per cent reduction in households in emergency housing motels from October 2022 to July 2024.”

She called this great progress and was supported by the Government pledge to end emergency housing motel use by 2025.

All but one of 37 submissions opposed Ministry of Housing and Urban Development applications to keep seven emergency housing motels operating in Rotorua for another year after their resource consents expire in December.

Rotorua Lakes Council's Civic Centre as viewed from Hinemaru St. Photo / Laura Smith.

Public hearings on the applications begin on Tuesday.

Tapsell also said there was a “significant amount” of new build housing in the last year and the council supported development of housing options for a variety of lifestyles and budgets.

She also noted construction starting on the Rotorua Museum project with plans to have it re-opened by 2027; completion of Aquatic Centre upgrades and the lakefront redevelopment; internal changes at the council; appointing new chief executive Andrew Moraes in March; and work on its Long Term Plan.

“We heard community concerns about past direction and increasing costs ... our plan focuses on smart investment in our future, like protecting our people and environment through reliable infrastructure, supporting our economy through inner city revitalisation, and completing significant community projects.”

She said pausing and stopping spending to minimise rates as much as possible was in recognition of “unprecedented financially challenging times”.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.