Released late last year, council’s annual report recorded a total revenue of $18.8 million and a total operating expenditure of $18.4 million, which included an outlay of more than $6 million in capital works. 

Meander Valley mayor Craig Perkins said while extreme weather events had posed some problems for council, the year had been a successful one.

“The fires had some impact on us particularly around managing road closures and recovery centres but in terms of infrastructure not so much,” Cr Perkins said. 

“(The floods) came in early June so most of the costs of expenditure relating to that would have happened this financial year but certainly it's obviously going to have an impact on our annual report next year.”

The financial year saw council extend its good record in completing operational targets, with general manager Martin Gill reporting a 99 per cent target completion rate.

Cr Perkins said the statistic had come courtesy of hard work and an all-round team effort. 

“We often set some challenging targets and I think it's a testament to the staff we have that we achieve all but a couple of our operational targets and that's always pleasing to see.

“For quite a number of years council have maintained a small operational surplus in balancing our budget and we'll continue to try and achieve that notwithstanding the impact things like the floods have had on us.”

Cr Perkins said while the reduction of Taswater distributions and repair works following the June floods would likely impact spending capacity, council would push ahead with its capital works program. 

“One of the things we continue to focus on is what level of service we provide in terms of roads, footpaths and recreation facilities, and how we continue to maintain equity across all the various population centres.

“Council has committed to a fairly heavy capital works program, not just for renewal and maintenance but new infrastructure across the municipality… and we'll continue that over the next few years as best we can.”