Central Otago District Council Adopts 2024–25 Annual Report

The Central Otago District Council (CODC) has adopted its 2024–25 Annual Report, marking a year of responding to rising cost pressures while progressing critical infrastructure and planning for the district’s future.

Financial overview

Council ended the financial year (30 June 2025) with a surplus of $7.925 million after tax which will be carried forward to the next financial year to complete projects.

This result comes at a time when the Council has faced increasing costs for basic services, including a $200,000 increase in annual insurance premiums and similar spikes in energy costs.

Key facts and figures for 2024/25 include:

• $81.2 million – Council’s total revenue
• $73.3 million – Council’s total expenditure
• $18.7 billion – District rateable capital value
• $10.2 billion – District rateable land value
• $50 million – Council debt
• 15,310 – Rateable properties across the district
• $1.3 billion – Book value of Council’s non-current assets

In presenting the report it was also acknowledged by Central Otago Mayor Tamah Alley and Chief Executive Peter Kelly that it had been a challenging year, with the community feeling the impact of peak rates while the costs of providing basic services continued to rise.

Over three-quarters of expenditure was on roading, water infrastructure and waste, with more than half the increase in rates attributable to expenditure relating to Three Waters (drinking water, stormwater and wastewater).

“We’re proud to see long-awaited community projects taking shape, but this Council has kept its focus on the essentials," Mayor Alley said. "Our Annual Report highlights major drinking water upgrades to meet new standards, emergency works on roads following numerous severe weather events, and improvements in energy efficiency and resilience at our pump stations.

"Alongside these core priorities, we’ve also advanced planning for the future with initiatives like District Plan Change 19 to support growth. Looking ahead, we’re confident and prepared to meet the challenges of substantial Government reform while strengthening Central Otago's communities."

Mayor Alley said despite the challenges, the year had had a number of highlights:

• Major drinking water upgrades to meet new standards
• Emergency road repairs following severe weather events
• Mayors Taskforce for Jobs placements supporting young people into jobs
• Progress on Kāimoanahaehae Riverside Park in Alexandra, a decade-long community project
• Cromwell hall build on the Kawarau River progressing on time and on budget
• Central Otago District Plan Change 19 was enacted, opening up more space for residential development to allow our community to grow
• District Vision has been brought to life (the Shaping Tomorrow Together project) and comes into effect in the 2025/26 year
• Completion of the Cromwell Rising Main Pipeline in August 2024 to support a growing population
• Maintenance of 1,926km of roading, including 10.4km of sealed road resurfacing and 75.95km of unsealed road metalling.
• The Alexandra Airport runway resurfaced for the first time in over 30 years using a new SteelGuard surface, completed at half the cost of previous estimates.

CODC Chief Executive Peter Kelly said Council continued to battle to keep rates manageable against inflation and other cost pressures.

"It has been a challenging year, with our community feeling the burden of increased rates while the costs of providing basic services continue to rise. We are working tirelessly to position Central Otago to navigate these financial challenges by identifying efficiencies and alternative funding opportunities."

This year, Council moved at pace through a shortened Long-term Plan (2025-34, having done an Enhanced Annual Plan in 2024), processed 48,456 emails and phone interactions, maintained 1926km of roading and 1200ha of reserve land, and received Toitū Carbon Reduce certification for our fifth year of emissions reduction, having more than halved emissions from our baseline year, Mr Kelly said.

The full Annual Report 2024/25 and Summary can be accessed on the Council website HERE