Te Tatau o Te Arawa chairman Te Taru White, left, and manahautu Jude Pani. Photo / Andrew Warner
Te Tatau o Te Arawa chairman Te Taru White, left, and manahautu Jude Pani. Photo / Andrew Warner
Rotorua Lakes Council's iwi partnership organisation has reported a "small" $5000 surplus in its first audited annual report.
Te Tatau o Te Arawa's 2021 annual report was presented to the council at its meeting on Thursday morning, which was held over Zoom following mayor Steve Chadwick's infection with Covid-19.
Te Tatau o Te Arawa is a representative organisation which works in partnership with the district council.
In the meeting, Te Tatau chairman Te Taru White said the organisation had faced challenges from Covid-19 and changes in local government such as the local government review, Three Waters reform and Māori wards.
At the time, GHA accountant and Te Tatau financial adviser Glenn Hawkins said Te Tatau's accounts were not audited because it was not a requirement in the trust deed, wasn't seen as necessary and was a "relatively expensive" process.
He said it would be a decision for the trustees of the organisation to make.
In Thursday's meeting, Te Tatau manahautū (executive officer) Jude Pani said the impetus to audit the annual report for 2021 was driven less by the council's suggestion rather than "as a best practice way to manage the operations of Te Tatau".
"[It's] more about the robustness of our operations and our financial position."
She said the work of Te Tatau was informed by the Te Arawa 2050 vision and continued to act as conduits for Te Arawa, particularly in relation to its stance on Māori wards in early 2021.
"We checked with the people [on Māori wards].
"Te Tatau is not in that political space of holding a ground for holding ground's sake … it's about what the people want and it's about what Te Arawa wants."
She said work on a Te Arawa model for housing was and continued to be "quite a focus" for Te Tatau.
GHA chartered accountants' partner and Te Tatau financial adviser Glenn Hawkins said Cookson Forbes had audited the annual report and considered Te Tatau's governance process and financial reports and given a clear audit opinion on December 7 last year.
For the 2020 / 2021 financial year Te Tatau received $372,500 in funding from the council, which accounted for 64 per cent of its income.
GHA partner and Te Tatau o Te Arawa financial adviser Glenn Hawkins. Photo / Andrew Warner
It had also received a further $13,500 in other grants from the council. Other income streams included the University of Auckland, the University of Canterbury, Te Puni Kōkiri, Te Mātāwai and umbrella funding with other organisations.
Revenue was up 20 per cent on the previous financial year and project costs were $170,040.
Expenses were up 17 per cent to $424,866 and it reported a net surplus for the year of $5581, up from $459 the previous year, which Hawkins called a "small surplus".
Employee-related costs were more than $183,000 and trustee costs $108,005.
Cash on hand was $381,205 and Hawkins said that was in part due to receiving funding ahead of projects that had not yet begun.
Total liabilities were $614,341 and the organisation had equity of $28,013, up 25 per cent on the previous year.
"We remain solvent, we're in a nice stable position, we have good cash flows – all the right signs you'd want, albeit on a very small scale."
He said auditors were "happy with our systems and processes".
In the meeting, deputy mayor Dave Donaldson asked if the audit of the report had been costly, as had been discussed previously, and Hawkins said it had cost between $3000 and $4000 which he described as "reasonably priced".
White said receiving the auditors' opinion was "another plank in transparency" so it was a cost Te Tatau was willing to bear.
"Finances can become rather sensitive for people … I want to show that we are responsible spenders of our money and that we do create value for what we get."
Macpherson extended his congratulations on the report, calling it "sophisticated".
"The only awkwardness that I felt was … [with White] there is in effect a conflict of interest or close to it between his role as chair[man] and as an elected member of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council."
He said it was a "difficulty" Te Tatau may have to resolve "in the near future with elections coming up".
Rotorua district councillor Reynold Macpherson. Photo / Andrew Warner
White said he did not see a significant conflict of interest nor did the regional council.
He said he acknowledged any conflicts of interest or perceived conflicts of interest as they arised and "otherwise I get on with the role of being the chair[man] of Te Tatau o Te Arawa, elected by Te Arawa to do the job we have to do".
Chadwick said the situation had been discussed and "managed carefully" and she saw no conflict.
Councillor Trevor Maxwell said as part of the iwi he also saw "no conflict whatsoever".
Councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait said the annual report was "very very good".
"I suspect that over time we should see a reduction in all the other social issue costs through the work that you're doing. We shouldn't underestimate that."
She suggested that Te Tatau board members and the council should meet to network, and White and Chadwick agreed they believed it would be useful.
In the meeting, the council also agreed to reverse a 2021 decision to schedule council and committee meetings at 9am, deciding to return the start times to 9.30am. All meeting dates would remain the same.
Councillor Mercia Yates expressed concern she was late to meetings due to her radio show on Te Arawa FM, and said others had also been late to meetings since they had started at 9am.
Raukawa-Tait, whose idea it had been to switch the meetings to 9am, said she considered being a councillor a job and time needed to be made for the meetings. She said when they had started at 9.30am she had been disappointed to see some councillors leaving early and hoped that would no longer be the case.
The council also voted – with one vote against from Macpherson – to adopt the council's Housing and Business Capacity Assessment and the inclusion of housing "bottom lines".
The assessment, presented at a committee earlier in the month, provided the current shortfall of housing in Rotorua and how many homes the council needed to enable in order to address the local housing crisis.
