Hutt City Council adopts 2022-23 Annual Report

"Resilience has been a key theme over the past year as we’ve responded to some significant challenges throughout our city," says Mayor Campbell Barry. "I’m really proud of the progress we’ve made in the face of these challenges while delivering on our promise to get the basics right.

"We renewed 14.5km of pipes, more than any other Council in the Wellington region, which included replacing and renewing the wastewater pipe from Barber Grove to Seaview - an old sewer pipe that has 90% of the Hutt Valley’s waste flowing through it.

"Construction of Tupua Horo Nuku (Eastern Bays Shared Path) began, with the seawall and cycleway providing a greater level of protection from the ocean and extreme weather events for infrastructure under the road.

"We also reached an important milestone in Te Wai Takamori o Te Awa Kairangi (RiverLink) project, appointing AECOM-Fletcher as the preferred partner to deliver the programme. Construction has now started on this project that will protect us from a 1 in 440-year flood and further revitalise our city centre, improving public transport and addressing congestion.

"Our financial management remains strong and our financial strategy continues to focus on achieving a balanced budget over the long-term. We know, like many other councils, there are financial challenges ahead and that we must continue to act prudently on behalf of our ratepayers," says Mayor Barry.

Hutt City Council Chief Executive Jo Miller noted the significant step-up in Council’s capital investment programme over the past year into core infrastructure.

"Upgrading our city’s infrastructure was and continues to be a key area of activity. This work benefits generations to come, improves the wellbeing of our community and makes our city more resilient.

"Over the past year a number of our roads were affected by flooding so we had to redirect resources in response to the more than 200 slips across our city. We continue to experience an increase in weather events which has wide-ranging impacts on our operations.

"We know that continually adapting facilities, which are at the heart of our communities, benefits our residents. I’m delighted to see that satisfaction rates for our facilities are high," says Jo Miller.

The full 2022-23 Annual Report and the summary version can be found on our website at hutt.city/annualreport

Key performance data for the 12 months to 30 June 2023:

• Delivered $156.8M capital investment across the group, which included $69.5M on three waters infrastructure, $25.8M on transport projects and $26.3M on the new Naenae Pool and Fitness Centre.
• We retained a strong credit rating of AA from Standard and Poor’s Credit Rating Agency. The long-term outlook was revised from a stable outlook to negative on 11 August 2023 signalling the projected weakening impact of the significant increases in our infrastructure investment over the next three years on our debt and liquidity ratios.
• Our net surplus for the year was $11.8M, which was $4.1M lower than budget largely due to lower capital subsidies than planned. Our balanced budget result, which focuses on the underlying operating result, was a deficit of $28.1M, which was $1.3M better than the budgeted $29.4M deficit.
• We renewed 14.5km of pipes, including the wastewater pipe from Barber Grove to Seaview.
• Construction started on Tupua Horo Nuku (Eastern Bays Shared Path).
• Of the 86 key performance indicators set for the year, we achieved 29. We have more work to do in some areas to meet more targets. We expect our continued investment programme, such as in water infrastructure, will see improvements here in the future. Our performance in the transport area was significantly impacted by severe weather events which resulted in a reprioritisation of work.
• Taranaki Whānui ki te Upoko o te Ika and Ngāti Toa Rangatira gifted a name and cultural narrative for Te Wai Takamori o Te Awa Kairangi (RiverLink) and this this project was recognised with the New Zealand Planning Institute’s Best Practice Award for Integrated Planning and Investigations.
• A new library was opened in Maungaraki through an innovative partnership with Maungaraki School.
• We won a national award for "Collaborative Government Action" and the overall Supreme Award at the Taituarā Local Government Excellence Awards for our housing partnership Takai Here Tāngata.
• Climate change initiatives saw the rollout of 38 EV charging stations across the city, continuation of our programme to phase out gas at our facilities and more recycling collected at the kerbside through our new service.