Annual Report Shows Strong Progress, High Satisfaction
Council adopted its 2025/26 Annual Report at the 28 October extraordinary Council meeting, with the report receiving a clean audit opinion.
The Annual Report details the Council’s financial and non-financial performance for the year ended 30 June 2026, including progress on the commitments made in the second year of its 2024–2034 Long Term Plan.
South Taranaki Mayor Phil Nixon says the report reflects a year of solid progress despite continuing cost pressures and significant change across the local government sector.
“While it has been a challenging operating environment, we have remained focused on affordability, maintaining reliable services and investing in the infrastructure and facilities our communities need,” Mayor Nixon says.
“We reduced the average rates increase from the 8.66% forecast in the Long Term Plan to 5.46%, while maintaining planned service levels. Receiving a clean audit opinion provides further assurance that the Council’s financial and performance reporting fairly reflects where we are and what we have achieved.”
The Annual Report highlights progress across a range of major projects and priorities. Plan Change 4 became operative, implementation of the Water Services Delivery Plan began, and work progressed on establishing a dedicated in-house water services business unit.
Town revitalisation projects also continued across the district. Construction began on Te Puna Manawa Ora in Ōpunakē, planning and procurement advanced for the Stark Park redevelopment in Eltham, and Pātea’s restored Te Here-Ngā-Waka fishing and viewing jetty opened. Planning also continued for the Pātea South Development and Cambridge Street pedestrian mall.
Significant infrastructure work continued at the South Taranaki Business Park, including improvements to Kerry, Houston and Fitzgerald roads, extensions to water, wastewater and stormwater services, and progress on the wastewater pump station and Fitzgerald Road extension.
Demolition of the former Manaia War Memorial Hall and Manaia Sports Complex also began as the Council prepared to procure a design and build solution for a new purpose-built facility.
Chief Executive Fiona Aitken says the results show the Council continues to provide services that residents value highly.
“The independent annual residents’ survey found that 91% of respondents were satisfied with Council services overall. Satisfaction was particularly high for libraries at 96%, cemeteries at 95% and wastewater services at 95%,” Fiona says.
“These results are encouraging, but the Annual Report also clearly identifies areas where we need to improve. We will continue working to lift satisfaction with roading, animal management and solid waste collection while maintaining the strong results achieved across our other services.”
Fiona says the Council remains in a sound financial position and continues to balance the delivery of its capital programme with careful financial management.
“The year brought considerable change, but we continued making progress on the services, infrastructure and projects that matter to our communities. The clean audit opinion provides confidence in the quality and transparency of the Council’s reporting.”
The adopted 2025/26 Annual Report will be made available on the Council’s website. An audited summary is required within 30 days of adoption and is expected to be available online by 28 November 2026.
