Rodney Stevens
An extraordinary meeting of Clarence Valley Council was held on Friday March 23 to apply for a third extension to lodge 2021/2022 Annual Financial Statements to the Office of Local Government.
Initially, CVC was granted an extension to December 31, 2022, to lodge the statements following last year’s floods and compounding resourcing challenges.
Then, due to further extenuating circumstances in accounting for flood impaired assets, the December 31 deadline could not be reached, and CVC applied for, and was granted, an extension until February 28, 2023.
“However, due to continuing extenuating circumstances, this deadline is unable to be achieved and as such a further extension is requested,” council business papers stated.
“The extension request has been sent to the Audit Risk Improvement Committee (ARIC) for endorsement and is supported by council’s Auditor, Thomas Noble Russell.
“Due to further extenuating circumstances in accounting for flood impaired assets, this deadline was unable to be achieved and as such it is recommended a further extension to 31 March 2023 be sought.”
Council staff identified three key issues that prevented the statements being prepared by deadline.
Asset impairments due to floods in February, May, July and September-October proved challenging for council staff to complete asset condition assessments.
Getting expert advice for asset revaluation proved difficult for council.
Recruiting qualified staff in a hard employment market was made even more difficult by the February floods and Covid restrictions, CVC has experienced challenges in resourcing numerous critical skills areas across council including works and finance teams.
“In addition to this, comprehensive revaluations are being undertaken for buildings and structures, recreational assets and operational land and completion may also be delayed by the recent flooding inhibiting access.
Staff recommended council submit a request to the Office of Local Government seeking a further extension for lodgement of the 2021/2022 Annual Financial Statements to 31 March 2023.
Councillors voted unanimously at Friday’s meeting to support the staff recommendation and request a further extension to submit council’s Annual Financial Statements.