File ref: IRC-5609
23 November 2023
Chris McCashin
Via FYI website
Kia ora Chris,
Consultation for LTP
Thank you for your request made under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings
Act 1987 (the Act), received on 26 October 2023. You requested the following information:
In light of the recent Castalia Report please provide
1. Copy of the Castalia Report
2. List of the Assumptions that Castalia have wrong in their reporting The Assumptions that
Castalia should have used per councils current situation
Additional to this and in light of the imminent consultation for the long term plan can you
please provide
3. Any and all reports completed relating to council finances
4. Any and all memos formal and informal in relation to council finances Specifically in
relation to income versus OPEX and CAPEX - I don't want asset values included in the
analysis - strictly cash coming in versus cash coming out
5. Any and all memos / reports notes / requests for Central Government Funds - specifically
GST as I know the Mayor was wanting a handout
6. Ultimately a comprehensive statement of the current accounts so that Wellingtonians can
reasonably consult on the long term plan - we need to know the councils financial position
7. Any and all notes formal and informal relating to council and their 225% debt limit
1. Copy of the Castalia Report
We do not hold a copy of the Castalia report and are therefore refusing this part of your request
under section 17(g) of the Act as the information is not held. This was commissioned by private
individuals who used extracts of their report in a submission to Council (can be found from page
89 -
wellington.govt.nz/-/media/your-council/meetings/committees/long-term-plan-finance-
and-performance-committee/2023-11-01-agenda-ltpfpc.pdf).
2. List of the Assumptions that Castalia have wrong in their reporting and the assumptions
that Castalia should have used per councils current situation
Council are still developing their assumptions to inform future work programmes, for example
our capital expenditure programme. We are therefore refusing this part of your request under
section 17(g) of the Act as the information is not held.
3. Any and all reports completed relating to council finances
Please see our annual report which has been independently audited
: WCC Annual Report
2021-22 (wellington.govt.nz)
4. Any and all memos formal and informal in relation to council finances Specifically in
relation to income versus OPEX and CAPEX - strictly cash coming in versus cash coming
out
We don’t produce cash only information, because we are required to accrual account by
accounting standards this is the approach we take. We are therefore refusing this part of
your request under section 17(g) of the Act as the information is not held.
You may wish to review the quarterly report which is in the agenda for the 9 November
LTP, Finance and Performance Committee meeting.
5. Any and all memos / reports notes / requests for Central Government Funds - specifically
GST
It has been publicly reported that Mayor Whanau wrote to political leaders in September
2023 wanting confirmation from parties that, if elected, they would investigate broadening
the revenue-raising scope for Wellington City Council. For examp
le: Election 2023:
Wellington mayor joins Wayne Brown in telling Government to share GST - NZ Herald
6. Ultimately a comprehensive statement of the current accounts so that Wellingtonians
can reasonably consult on the long term plan - we need to know the councils financial
position
Your request for a comprehensive statement of the current accounts can be met through
the provision of the quarterly report.
Your request also seems to be related to consulting on the LTP. The process for long-term
planning is underway, including the development of Council budgets. However, elected
members are yet to make decisions on what will be included or not in the future LTP. Until
we have this we can’t provide reasonable forecasts. These will be completed in mid
December, and we will be consulting with the community on the LTP in April 2024. This is
the same timetable all local authorities will be working towards, and the same timeframe
we have used in prior years.
7. Any and all notes formal and informal relating to council and their 225% debt limit
This limit was set in 2021 – therefore the 2021-31 LTP will have some discussion on the limit.
In terms of current rate, this is available in Volume Two of the Annual Report. Page 11 has
the details on our actual versus planned deficit.
Page 29 has the information about our borrowings (see the borrowings figures under both
the current and non-current liabilities). What isn’t in this report is that this equates to an
actual debt to revenue ratio of 168% (or if we were to include our “insurance buffer” it would
be closer to 210% - both still below our self-imposed ratio of 225 and well below the
covenant level of 280.
Wellington City Council | 2 of 3
A number of your requests in the past, including this one, have requested publicly available
information from our Annual Reports and Long Term Plans. I encourage you to review these and if
you have specific questions let us know.
Right of review
If you are not satisfied with the Council’s response, you may request the Office of the Ombudsman
to investigate the Council’s decision. Further information is available on the Ombudsman website,
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
Please note, we may proactively release our response to your request with your personal
information removed.
Thank you again for your request, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Kind regards
Wellington City Council | 3 of 3
