The South Taranaki District Council finished the 2014-15 financial year with a $1.19 million surplus.
Council chief executive Craig Stevenson said prudent financial management had led to the surplus, which would help cover unbudgeted expenditure arising from unexpected flood events in June and August. The council's Long Term Investment Fund (LTIF) "continued to perform strongly" and at year end the fund totalled $130.8 million, an increase of $10 million from June 2014.
Mr Stevenson said it was the fourth year in a row the fund had exceeded budget expectations.
"Each year the council draws down $5.6 million from the LTIF, which provides $3.87 million to subsidise general rates and a further $1.73 million to service interest and loan repayments for specific community projects.
"In this way, the LITF has returned around $84 million to the South Taranaki community since it was started in 1997," he said.
"All revenue over and above the annual drawdown of $5.6 million is returned to the fund, to build it up for those years when it doesn't perform so well."
The council's financial position also saw Standard and Poor's upgrade the council's credit rating from A+ stable to A+ positive outlook in May.
Mr Stevenson says other highlights during the year were development of the 2015-25 long term plan and 30-year infrastructure strategy for managing roads, water supply, wastewater and stormwater; development of the Hawera town centre strategy; completion of the $10 million Waimate West water treatment plant, which was the last major water project to finish in the district; and the long-awaited $11 million Normanby overbridge realignment project on State Highway 3 was started.