Finance Chair comments on news item about Cameron Partners report

Friday 16 May 2014

Radio New Zealand has released information from an early draft of the Cameron Partners Report into the Christchurch City Council’s Funding Requirements and Options.

This report is to assist in ensuring the delivery of the Council’s long-term financial strategy.

The Chair of the Council’s finance committee Cr Raf Manji said the financial information about council assets in the early draft was publicly available in CCHL’s latest annual report.

“The early draft also referred to possible options for bringing the Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs) closer together. These options were early thinking which has already been revised,” said Cr Manji.

The Council was continuing to work on identifying the options available to help meet its funding shortfall.

“Options need to be on the table for consideration,” said Cr Manji.

“Councillors and staff will continue to work with Cameron Partners over the next few weeks to finalise the report and work through the various options.
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“We hope to release the Cameron Partners report by the end of June,” said Cr Manji.

The Council appointed the corporate advisory firm last February to review the commercial assets of its investment arm Christchurch City Holdings Ltd (CCHL).

Cameron Partners was also asked to confirm that the proposed funding arrangements for the Council’s 2014-2015 draft annual plan would enable the plan to be delivered.

The terms of reference included a financial review of CCHL and its ability to generate cash and capital, as well looking at how best to structure council controlled organisations (CCOs) and council-controlled trading organisations (CCTOs) to meet the demands of the rebuild.

This work follows the recent financial audit completed by Korda Mentha.

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