Fire and Emergency is in a sound financial position

Fire and Emergency’s 2021/22 Annual Report shows the organisation is in a sound financial position despite the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 and a five percent increase in costs.

We recorded a $15.95 million surplus in FY2021/22 against a budgeted surplus of $18.27 million.

Revenue of $662.70 million was $26.54 million higher than budget. The majority of our revenue is received from levies on property, construction and motor vehicle insurance. Levy revenue was $21.98 million higher than budgeted for, largely due to increased construction activity throughout the motu.

Expenditure totalled $646.75 million, which was $28.87 million higher than budgeted for. The increase was due to the cost of replacing operational staff when sick or isolating with COVID-19, provisioning for deferred employment contract obligations, acceleration of depreciation on fire appliances in advance of transitioning to more carbon efficient vehicles, and reclassification of Software as a Service.

We also ended the year with a cash balance of $206.04 million. The cash balance is required for operational purposes, to respond to significant unplanned incidents and to pay for necessary and planned station, fleet and information technology replacement, and upgrade projects.

Fire and Emergency invested $89.56 million, exactly one-third of the three-year programme in capital renewal and refurbishment during the year, continuing its significant investment programme in fire stations (64 percent), fire appliances (14 percent), computer equipment (11 percent) and operating equipment (11 percent).

‘Delivering a surplus close to budget was a great result given the difficult year with increasing costs and COVID-19 impacting the organisation and staffing levels throughout the year,’ says Darryl Purdy, DCE Finance and Business Operations.

‘Our strong cash balance gives us the flexibility to respond to significant unplanned incidents and our planned projects. Funding for our long-term capital programme remains a challenge, as we look out to the next 20 years to replace fire appliances and renew and refurbish fire stations’.

Read the full Annual Report (external link)