Annual Report 2014

De-amalgamation Costs
The de-amalgamation of Noosa Council from the Sunshine Coast Regional Council took effect on
1 January 2014. The de-amalgamation process was managed during 2014 by the Noosa Council
Transfer Manager and his Transfer Team who prepared for commencement of Council operations
from 1 January 2014. Pursuant to the Local Government (De-Amalgamation Implementation)
Regulation 2013, a Transfer Committee was established to facilitate the de-amalgamation,
including the role of deciding costs associated with the de-amalgamation that were to be payable
by the Noosa Council.

The Transfer Committee finalised its role on 30 June 2014. At that time, it had approved de-
amalgamation costs totalling $2.57 million. Council used a line of credit provided by the
Queensland Treasury Corporation to fund the payment of the majority of those de-amalgamation
costs. As at 30 June 2014, the balance of that line of credit was $2.23 million. Council has
budgeted to fully pay off that line of credit by 31 December 2014.

Council spent a lot of time and effort in its first six months of operations establishing the new
organisation and systems. Costs associated with this “start-up” phase from 1 January 2014 have
been dealt with as normal operating costs of running a local government. The Council was able to
identify significant operational savings in this period as part of the establishment of the new
organisation and these ongoing savings enabled it to adopt its 2014/15 budget on 29 June 2014
with no general rate increase.

Statement of Financial Position
The Statement of financial position (or balance sheet) measures what Council owns (i.e. its
assets); and what we owe (i.e. liabilities) to determine the total community equity (net worth) at the
end of each financial year. Overall, Council’s net financial position improved during the reporting
period.
Figure 14 - Summary balance 6-month movement
                   Transferred    Consolidated
                     Balances         2013/14
                       ($’000)         ($’000)
Assets               1,031,643        1,034,753
Liabilities             59,445          61,253
Community
                       972,198         973,500
Equity



Assets – what we own
Current Assets are represented by cash, investments, inventories and receivables (money owed to
Council). Council’s current assets as at 30 June 2014 were valued at $47.8 million.

Non-Current assets of $986.9 million, includes the value of Council’s investment in Unitywater, plus
property, plant and equipment totalling $875.7 million. The property, plant and equipment
represents community infrastructure and other operational assets owned and controlled by
Council. The main non-current asset categories and their respective written down values are
shown in the following figure.




Noosa Council Report 2014                                                               Page 20 of 24