Surplus Budget Forecast for 2010/11

The monthly financial review presented at tonight's Council meeting revealed that a line by line assessment of expenditure has resulted in a forecast surplus in excess of $140,000 for this financial year.

According to Juliet van Oirschot,  Acting Director Corporate and Business Services this review process has generated a turnaround of almost $800,000 since February.

"The review conducted by Executive, financial staff and each manager in the organisation covered both income and expenditure items within each area. Any additional allocations or project underspends were captured through this detailed review.

"A substantial amount of the savings can also be attributed to staff positions that were vacant for a significant period of time," said Ms Oirschot.

Other factors that have contributed to the forecast surplus include a $500,000 increase on investments within the General Fund which is due to conservative interest estimates when the original budget was prepared. 

The report to Council also recognised various other grants and contributions have been received along with the expenditure budget for these funds, with the net impact of these variations being nil.

"This review process has had a really significant impact and it will be proposed that the line by line review will become an annual process at this time of year," concluded Ms van Oirschot.