The financial strategy outlines the Council’s overall approach to managing its finances.
It’s a central component of Council’s Long term Plans (LTP), and as such has a ten-year planning horizon, however it is revised every three years alongside the development of our LTP. The financial strategy sets our limits on rates increases and debt, illustrates the overall financial implications of the decisions made in the LTP, and is key in demonstrating prudent financial management.
The financial strategy must include the factors that are expected to have a significant impact on our financial management, including the cost of responding to growth, our expenditure to maintain our levels of services for network infrastructure and any other significant factors expected to impact demand for services. It is also required to include our limits on rates, rates increases and borrowing; details around our policies regarding security against borrowing; and set out the objectives for holding and managing financial investments and equity securities and the quantified targets for returns.
Our current financial strategy can be found in the LTP 2018-2028.