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Printable version
Survey at a glance
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Purpose |
To collect statistics on annual financial performance of local authorities |
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Selection process |
All local authorities in New Zealand are selected |
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Frequency |
Annually |
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Results |
Local Authority Statistics |
Frequently asked questionsAbout the survey
About giving data
About your obligations
About using information
The Local Authority Census collects statistics on annual financial performance of local authorities for publication and input into national accounts.
All local authorities are included in the survey, that is, city councils, district councils, unitary authorities and regional councils.
Local authority statistics are used by:
- individual local authorities
- the local government sector through the representative body for councils (Local Government New Zealand)
- government bodies charged with monitoring local government (Department of Internal Affairs)
- international organisations, such as the International Monetary Fund, require Statistics New Zealand to produce statistics about government financial operations
- the national accounts of New Zealand (Gross Domestic Product and Expenditure on GDP in current and constant prices).
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The survey requires statistics on sales of goods and services and all other income. Included in the survey are questions on:
- rates
- licence fees and fines
- government grants and subsidies
- purchases of goods and services
- grants and donations and all other expenditure
- employee costs
- total expenditure (excluding non-operating and extraordinary items, investment income, interest paid, depreciation, and operating result [deficit/surplus]).l
How often does this survey take place?
This survey takes place annually.
Financial accountant.
Are there any specific instructions for questions in this survey?
Yes. The are listed at the bottom of this webpage, under the heading Specific Instructions.
What should I include?
Report information for the council only. Do not include data for any Local Authority Trading Enterprises (LATEs). Information on LATEs is collected in another survey (Quarterly Economic Activity Survey - Trading Activities (BS/QS/02).
How should I report?
As at 30 June, all figures should be reported for the financial year (1 July to 30 June).
Thousands of dollars ($000)
All figures should be reported in thousands of dollars and rounded as follows: if your answer is $127,138 round this to $127,000 by writing 127 in front of the pre-printed zeros; if your answer is $683, round this to $1000, by writing 1 in front of the pre-printed zeros; if your answer is less than $500, or the question does not apply to your council, leave the box blank.
Accrual basis
Use an accrued basis where possible, otherwise cash accounting figures may be given. For example, rates should be reported as levied, not as they are received.
Audited financial reports
The financial reports used for the annual questionnaire should be based on audited reports. If this is not possible, unaudited reports may be used.
Attached financial statements
To assist processing staff, please send with the questionnaire, a copy of your accounts for the year such as the statement of financial performance, statement of financial position, depreciation schedule and the accompanying notes to the accounts.
Estimates
Where actual figures are not available, give careful estimates.
Where do I send my completed questionnaire?
Post your completed questionnaire in the freepost envelope provided to:
Statistics New Zealand
Freepost 10007
Private Bag 92003
Auckland
Can I submit my questionnaire electronically?
Yes, a new secure data deposit developed by Statistics New Zealand allows you to submit your questionnaire electronically. To use this new system, called StatsGate, you must use the spreadsheet supplied by Statistics New Zealand and authorise one person from your council to make the submission.
Whom can I contact for help?
You may ring the freephone 0800 809 464, fax us on 09 920 2195, or email surveys@stats.govt.nz with questions.
Where can I see the results from the questionnaire?
The results for the Quarterly Local Authority Survey can be found in Local Authority Statistics - Information Releases. Annual data is usually released with the March Hot Off the Press.
How is the annual questionnaire different from the quarterly questionnaire?
The Local Authority Census (BS/LA/01) collects annual income and expenditure as it relates to the significant activities of local authorities, for example, roading or environmental protection. The Quarterly Local Authority Survey (BS/QS/01) collects year-to-date information at the end of each quarter. The information is categorised by the type of income, such as rates, and the type of expenditure, such as salaries and wages.
Are overheads included?
Yes, internal charges, such as overheads, should be included on both the income and expenditure pages. For example, revenue from internal charges should be recorded on the income pages (4 and 5) as sales of goods and services by the governance function (Q10). Expenditure on internal charges by the various significant activities should be reported on the expenditure pages (6 and 7) as purchases of goods and services.
My council groups the significant activities differently. What should I do?
If your council groups significant activities differently than the questionnaire, use the most significant items as your guide. For example, if you have culture and recreation as one activity, you may either report all of the income and expenditure under the predominant heading, or you may choose a proportional split between culture and recreation. In this case, record the portion assigned to culture in Q8 and the portion for recreation and sport in Q9. Similarly, if your council has more specific categories, please amalgamate them using the categories listed on the questionnaire.
When redesigning the questionnaire, we used the significant activity categories found in councils' annual reports. Because each council reports their significant activities in a different way, the categories included on the new questionnaire are Statistics New Zealand's best attempt at a consistent activity breakdown of transactions.
How does this survey fit in with the annual report?
You are encouraged to use the information that you are already preparing for your annual report. We certainly do not expect you to do a lot of additional work for the annual survey. All councils already report by significant activities in their annual accounts.
My council does not apportion some types of income and expenditure. What should I do?
If your council does not apportion items such as interest received or dividends to significant activities, you may report the total at the bottom of the column (Q14 and Q29).
Should I include non-operating items?
No, because we are asking for operating revenue and expenditure only, do not include non-operating items, such as vested assets, gains/losses on sales of capital assets, gains/losses on revaluation of capital assets, bad debts recovered, or insurance claims received.
What is the difference between regulatory income and sales?
Regulatory income is typically a compulsory amount that is not related to the cost of providing the service. Sales are usually an optional exchange including the provision of a good or service where the cost is related to what is provided. If your council records regulatory income and sales of goods and services together, such as a fees and charges category, estimate the proportion in each category. You are in the best position to estimate which items are regulatory and which items are sales for each significant activity.
Why are there two questions about additions to fixed assets?
The question about additions to fixed assets on page 6 asks for additions according to the significant activity that is purchasing the asset. Is the recreation and sport activity buying a truck or the governance activity buying a corporate car? The second question about additions to fixed assets on page 8 asks for the purchases to be classified by the type of asset. In this case, both the truck and the car would be classified as vehicles and recorded in Q37. Similarly, capital spending by roading, water supply, or waste water would be recorded by activity on page 6 and reported all together as infrastructural assets on page 8.
Recording additions to fixed assets by significant activity replaces the information about capital expenditure previously collected by the roading, water supply, and property supplementary questionnaires (BS/LA/S1 and BS/LA/S2).
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Under the Statistics Act 1975 you must provide the information requested by Statistics New Zealand. It is also important that information from all of the businesses surveyed is accurately represented in the statistical results.
Providing information to Statistics New Zealand is a statutory obligation. There is no provision in the Statistics Act for people to be paid for providing information. Where possible, we request information in a way that is easily obtainable from business records. We also recognise that completing survey questionnaires can be time consuming. For some surveys, we provide survey respondents with information that can be useful for your business planning purposes. Also, survey results are available free of charge on the Statistics New Zealand website.
The Statistics Act 1975 states that:
- all information collected under the Act must be used only for statistical purposes
- no information is released by Statistics New Zealand in a form that could enable the person or undertaking to whom it relates to be identified.
Consequently, Statistics New Zealand does not share your information with other government agencies. Other government agencies can provide their information to Statistics New Zealand, but only for statistical purposes. Statistics New Zealand sometimes undertakes a statistical survey jointly with another government department or government agency. In all cases, respondents are informed that it is a joint collection. You may object to information being passed to the other party by writing to Statistics New Zealand. Where this right is exercised, Statistics New Zealand withholds the information from the other party.
Businesses selected for any Statistics New Zealand survey must provide the information requested. This is a legal requirement under the Statistics Act 1975. We appreciate that it can be difficult and time consuming to complete survey forms. If you would prefer to provide information by fax or by email, please phone our Survey Help Desk on 0800 809 464 to discuss these options.
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Many statistics are available to you and your business as it is 'public good' information. This means that you can access this information free of charge, from this website, or by contacting our Customer Services staff via email info@stats.govt.nz, or by phone at your nearest Statistics New Zealand office. Our newsletters also contain information which you may find useful. The information available could assist you in business planning and for monitoring business performance.
We can provide information that could help your business. For instance we have information that can help in:
- assessing future population trends
- economic monitoring
- target marketing
- profiling an area
- estimating your market share
- assessing consumer spending patterns
- benchmarking your business.
Further explanation can be found in Business Helper, a web-based guide for business users. We can also provide statistics that enable a comparison of the results of your business with industry results. Contact our Information Centre for more information on Business Helper or on business profiling, please phone toll free 0508 525 525, or send an email to info@stats.govt.nz.
Where can I see the results from the questionnaire?
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Roading (Questions 1 and 16)
Transportation (Questions 2 and 17)
Waste water/sewerage/stormwater (Questions 3 and 18)
Environmental protection (Questions 4 and 19)
Water supply (Questions 5 and 20)
Solid waste/refuse (Questions 6 and 21)
Regulation and planning (Questions 7 and 22)
Culture (Questions 8 and 23)
Recreation and sport (Questions 9 and 24)
Governance (Questions 10 and 25)
Property (Questions 11 and 26)
Emergency management (Questions 12 and 27)
Forestry and agriculture (Questions 13 and 28)
Other (Questions 14 and 29)
Total (Questions 15 and 30)
Fixed assets
Question 31: Land
Question 32: Residential buildings
Question 33: All other buildings
Question 34: Infrastructural assets
Question 35: Plant, machinery and equipment
Question 36: Furniture and fittings
Question 37: Vehicles
Question 38: Intangible assets
Question 39: All other fixed assets
Question 40: Capital work in progress
Question 41: Total fixed assets
Other details
Question 42: How long did it take you to complete this questionnaire?
Question 43: Comments
Question 44: Respondent details
Specific instructions
Roading (Questions 1 and 16)
Include all operating income and expenditure for the roading function, according to the column headings. General rates, separate rates or works rates are examples of rates that your council might allocate to the roading function. Transfund and Transit New Zealand grants are typical sources of roading grants and subsidies. Sales of goods and services includes service charges for road works, such as paving provided to other organisations or individuals by a works unit.
On the expenditure side, salaries and wages would include staff time allocated to administering roading contracts, or any employee costs associated with the roading activity. Depreciation is a significant expense for roading. Purchases includes contract payments for road maintenance or any other purchases, including fuel, supplies or engineering services associated with roading.
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Transportation (Questions 2 and 17)
Include all operating income and expenditure for the transportation function, such as passenger transport and transport planning, according to the column headings. Transit New Zealand passenger transport grants are typical funding sources for regional councils. Regulatory income includes parking fines. Sales of goods and services includes bus fares, or parking charges.
Transportation expenditure would include any staff time allocated to administering passenger transport contracts, or employee costs associated with transport planning. Purchases includes contract payments and other current expenses, such as rents and electricity, associated with the transportation activity.
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Waste water/sewerage/stormwater (Questions 3 and 18)
Include all operating income and expenditure for the waste water, sewerage, and stormwater functions. Report any rates your council might allocate to these functions such as separate rates, sewerage rates, wastewater rates, stormwater rates, or uniform annual charges. Regulatory income would include late payment fees, while trade waste charges are an example of sales of goods and services.
Waste water, sewerage and stormwater expenditure would include any staff time allocated to contract maintenance or direct employee costs. Depreciation is a significant expense for wastewater, sewerage, and stormwater. Purchases includes contract payments for the maintenance of utility networks, or other current expenses such as fuel or power.
Environmental protection (Questions 4 and 19)
Many regional council activities would be classified as environmental protection. Include all income for environmental protection activities, such as land, soil and air quality management, coastal environment protection, river control and land drainage. Regulatory income would include any penalties or fees such as fines for breaching land use consents.
Expenditure includes any staff time allocated to environmental protection activities, and any grants made by the council to community groups for environmental projects.
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Water supply (Questions 5 and 20)
Include all income for water supply activities, according to the column headings. Revenue includes water rates levied and uniform annual charges related to the water supply activity. Sales of goods and services include water supply charges and water connection fees.
Expenditure includes any employee time allocated to water supply activities. Depreciation is a significant expense for the water supply activity. Purchases could include contract payments for water supply operation and maintenance services, or bulk water purchases.
Solid waste/refuse (Questions 6 and 21)
Include all income for solid waste and refuse activities, such as the collection and disposal of rubbish, landfill operations, recycling centres, or reusable materials depots. Refuse rates, if collected, would be reported for this activity. Sales of goods and services includes landfill fees, recycling centre income, or reusable materials depot sales.
Expenditure for the solid waste and refuse activity includes any staff costs allocated to this activity; any grants paid to other groups, such as recycling trials; and operational costs associated with landfills, refuse stations and reusable materials depot centres. The purchases category includes any materials used in the operation of solid waste collection and disposal, or any services purchased for this activity.
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Regulation and planning (Questions 7 and 22)
Include all income for regulation and planning activities, such as consent processing monitoring, inspection, planning and policy development. Regulatory income would include consent, monitoring, or inspection fees; certification charges; land information reports; animal control services; health inspection fees; and liquor licence fees.
Regulation and planning salaries and wages would include staff time allocated to policy and planning functions, and monitoring or enforcing regulations and bylaws. Purchases includes supplies or services associated with this activity.
Culture (Questions 8 and 23)
Include all income for cultural activities, such as libraries, museums, festivals, or galleries, according to the column headings. Allocate museum rates, if applicable, to culture. Cultural grants received include Creative New Zealand grants. Regulatory income includes library fines. Sales of goods and services includes museum admission charges; festival and event ticket sales; library services charges for Internet access, best-seller surcharges, or other service charges.
Expenditure includes any staff time allocated to cultural activities, such as library staff or event organisers. Include any grants made by the council to community groups for cultural projects like organising a local festival, or an operating grant for a kapahaka group, theatre group or local choir.
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Recreation and sport (Questions 9 and 24)
Include all income for recreation and sporting activities, such as sports fields, parks, reserves, swimming pools, camping grounds, or playgrounds. Any grants received for recreation and sport, such as Sport and Recreation Council of New Zealand (SPARC) grants, should be reported in the appropriate column. Sales of goods and services could include pool admission charges, holiday programme fees, hall rental charges, sports field ground fees, camping ground fees, park and reserve user fees, cemetery and crematorium fees and other service charges.
Recreation and sport expenditure includes any employee costs allocated to recreation or sporting activities, such as swimming pool instructors or lifeguards, contract staff operating holiday programmes, or parks and reserves grounds maintenance staff. Recreation and sport grants made by the council to community groups would be significant expenditure for this activity and include grants to local sporting clubs. Purchases includes any supplies or services used by the recreation and sport function.
Governance (Questions 10 and 25)
Include all income for governance activities, such as council and committee activities, corporate services, internal services, or iwi and community consultation. Sales of goods and services includes corporate overheads, human resources services, accounting services and other administrative service charges.
Governance expenditure includes any employee costs, such as councillor or committee member meeting fees, honoraria, or the allocation of administrative staff (accounting, finance or human resources) to the governance function. Purchases includes any operating equipment or supplies used by the governance activity, or any services purchased.
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Property (Questions 11 and 26)
Include income for property activities, such as pensioner housing, flats, or commercial property. Sales of goods and services includes rental or lease income from pensioner housing, flats, or commercial developments, and other service charges. Regulatory income includes late payment fees.
Property expenditure includes any employee costs, such as maintenance staff, or staff time allocated to administration. Subsidies paid to individuals or groups to defray the cost of market rental are included here. Purchases includes any service contract payments, goods or services used to maintain council property.
Emergency management (Questions 12 and 27)
Include all income for emergency management activities, such as civil defence, emergency and disaster management, or rural fire services. Any grants received for emergency management, such as Maritime Safety Authority or civil defence grants, should be included here. Sales of goods and services includes seminar and training session charges, or other service charges.
Emergency management expenditure includes any employee costs, such as civil defence committee meeting fees, honoraria, or the allocation of administrative staff to this activity. Purchases includes any supplies or services used by the emergency management activity.
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Forestry and agriculture (Questions 13 and 28)
Sales of goods and services could include timber sales, grazing land rental income, or livestock sales.
Expenditure on forestry and agriculture includes any employee costs associated with this activity, interest paid, depreciation of fixed assets, or purchases of goods and services.
Other (Questions 14 and 29)
Include all income for other activities, such as non-significant activities, miscellaneous activities, or activities not included with any other category. Include any rates that are unallocated or are allocated to residual activities. Any grants received that are unallocated or for residual activities, such as petrol tax should be included here. Any unallocated interest received and dividends should be recorded here.
On the expenditure side, any unallocated employee costs, grants paid, interest paid or purchases should be reported here, along with any activities not included in the other categories provided. Please specify which activities you do not feel fit into the categories listed. This will help us identify possible adjustments to the questionnaire in future years.
Total (Questions 15 and 30)
Give totals for each of the types of income and expenditure transactions. The total for each transaction type on the annual survey should equal the June quarter year-to-date total on the quarterly survey. That is, the totals in Q15 on the annual survey should match the totals in Q1 to Q9 on the quarterly survey, and the totals in Q30 should match the totals in Q12 to Q20. Should there be a significant difference between the fourth quarter total and the annual total, please comment in the box provided in Q43.
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Fixed assets
If your council classifies fixed assets in categories other than the ones given on the questionnaire, please give a careful estimate of the proportion of fixed assets in each category. Alternatively, you may choose to report the whole value in one row according to the largest items. For example, if you can not split residential buildings from non-residential buildings, you may record the total in the predominant category.
Please provide an opening book value, additions, disposals, net revaluations, depreciation and closing book value for each asset type.
Question 31: Land
Land under roading should be included in the infrastructural assets category (Q34).
Question 32: Residential buildings
Include only residential buildings such as pensioner, community housing, or flats in this category and report all other building types in Q33.
Question 33: All other buildings
Include any non-residential buildings, such as council buildings, parking buildings, social, cultural or recreational buildings, warehouses, commercial property, etc.
Question 34: Infrastructural assets
Include any infrastructural assets such as roads, bridges, sewers, oxidation ponds, water mains, refuse transfer stations, pumping stations, treatment plants, reticulation systems, airstrips, harbours, traffic lights, street lights, parking meters, footpaths, bus shelters, tunnels, culverts, flood control systems, stopbanks, sea walls, etc.
Question 35: Plant, machinery and equipment
Include any plant, machinery or equipment such as computers, printers, tools, photocopiers, lawn mowers, etc.
Question 36: Furniture and fittings
Include any furniture and fittings such as desks, chairs, shelves, filing cabinets, lighting fixtures, etc. If your council has a 'chattels' category, include those assets here.
Question 37: Vehicles
Include any vehicles such as cars, vans, trucks, trailers, vessels or aircraft.
Question 38: Intangible assets
Include any intangible assets, such as purchased software packages (RAMM, GIS, GPS), software developed in-house, patents, copyrights, or quarry rights.
Question 39: All other fixed assets
Include any other assets not accounted for in the above categories, such as library books or museum pieces.
Question 40: Capital work in progress
Include any capital work that is underway but not yet complete.
Question 41: Total fixed assets
Total each column (Q31 to Q40).
Other details
Question 42: How long did it take you to complete this questionnaire?
Report the time in hours and minutes spent by all employees reading the instructions, working on the questions and obtaining information.
This information allows Statistics New Zealand to monitor the time taken to fill in the questionnaire.
Question 43: Comments
Make any comment that would help Statistics New Zealand interpret the information that you have provided. Notification of significant organisational changes, such as the formation or dissolution of a LATE, allows more accurate and more efficient data processing.
Question 44: Respondent details
Providing the details of the person who completed the questionnaire provides us with a contact with the council. If we have a question about the data and require further information, it is usually best to talk with the person most familiar with the data.
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