Hastings tightens belt in downturn

Staff are not being replaced and the purse strings tightened as the Hastings District Council's income from building, landfill and cemetery operations continue to track below budget.

A report on council activity for the first quarter of the financial year showed building consent revenue was $131,000 lower than last year's figure of about $500,000, and $232,000 lower than the year-to-date budget of about $600,000.

The figures were a reflection of the quieter times in the building industry, Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule believed.

"There is less building activity in our district and I think we're still revelling in the economic downturn. I think it's fair to say there are a lot of industries finding it tough at the moment, another is the retail sector."

Mr Yule said the council was not replacing at least two positions vacated by staff who had left the building consents department.

"During the downturn we've reduced the staff needed working in that area as it is a user-charge system, so if the work is not there, the staff are not needed. But we are following the market carefully and if business picked up, we would be flexible in terms of hiring more people," he said.

Resource consent revenue was also below budget for the quarter, tracking at $116,000 compared to a year-to-date budget of $138,000.

"Resource consents take longer to go through and are to do with land use and the drop in those figures is a reflection of the economic climate.

"Overall, we had a bit of an upturn for a while last year but now confidence is down and people aren't pushing ahead with projects like they were nine months ago. People are nervous and cautious."

Cash coming in from transfer stations were also below the budgeted year-to-date forecast of $91,000 however at the end of September, revenue from the user-pay service exceeded expenditure by $28,000.

The council debt was $58.1 million at the end of the last financial year, and had increased by to $60.7 million by the end of September.

"I am comfortable with that because our debt is very modest compared to the value of assets, it's not like our debt has grown from zero up to $60 million," Mr Yule said. "I don't think it would be prudent to have zero debt. Debt-funding projects is a way of generating long-term assets that benefit the next generation. It makes no sense to have no debt and have the ratepayer fund everything that should be debt-funded, and that's the way we are going."