The SOLGM Financial Management Working Party has developed a set of guides to enhance the day to day financial management in local authorities.
Released in November 2009
The Price Is Right discusses an often neglected component of local authority funding reviews, and of the funding mix in general – prices, fees and charges. Local authorities have more flexibility to set these than is commonly appreciated, and they account for a significant proportion of local authority revenues, yet it is often rates that receive all the community and media scrutiny.
One of the often cited reasons for not exploring charging is that the legal requirements make it unclear what can and cannot be recovered by way of a charge. This document will explore the legal and constitutional issues involved with charging and should remove these doubts.
Charges are more than just a device for raising revenues/recovering costs, with some thought they can become an important policy instrument in and of themselves. The Price is Right guide shows you how your local authority can use its charging policy to achieve other objectives.
Click here to download The Price is Right - The Kiwi Version (PDF 690 kb)
Released in November 2008
This Guide is an update of Local Government New Zealand’s 1993 publication Principles and Guidelines for Local Authority Revenue Systems (those with longer memories of local government may remember this as ‘the Green book’).
The guide draws together all of the aspects that go into designing a good local authority funding system. In this guide you will find the following:
Click here to download The Green Book: Developing Local Authority Revenue Systems - An Update (PDF 908 kb)
Released in August 2011
This Guide deals with the financial aspects of the long-term plan. While financial information forms only a part of the LT P – the financial consequences of the LT P are often the yardstick that the public and many elected members judge the LT P by.
The main theme of this particular guide is the importance of a robust financial strategy to the long-term plan and to financial management in general.
Financial strategies are about more than limits on rates and debt that have been plucked from thin air, instead they are a tool for ensuring sustainability of service while also acting as a tool for prioritising and for communicating with the community.
Part Six of the Guide has recently been revised to reflect the promulgation of the Financial Reporting Regulations. People with queries about the regulations should address those to the Department of Internal Affairs in the first instance.
Download a complete copy of More Dollars and Sense (PDF, 2.3MB)