Period-specific information: March 2019 quarter

Reference Period

The information in this release is compiled from data collected in the quarterly Local Authority Survey run in the March 2019 quarter.

Tables

1. Local authority statistics, seasonally adjusted income
2. Local authority statistics, seasonally adjusted income, percentage changes
3. Local authority statistics, actual income
4. Local authority statistics, seasonally adjusted expenditure
5. Local authority statistics, seasonally adjusted expenditure, percentage changes
6. Local authority statistics, actual expenditure

Seasonal Adjustment

New items of income or expenditure that are included by local authorities can impact seasonal adjustment when the seasonal component of the data is unknown. With the introduction of Auckland’s regional fuel tax (RFT) in the September 2018 quarter, we have seen greater volatility in the seasonally adjusted regulatory income and petrol tax series. We expect this volatility to continue for a number of quarters until we have collected sufficient data to understand any changes in the seasonality of this series resulting from the introduction of the RFT.

Revisions

In the March 2019 quarter, revisions were applied to both Sales and other operating income, and Current grants, subsidies and donations income for quarters September 2017 to December 2018.

Sales and other operating income revisions

Four councils in the QLAS collection had recorded development contributions under Sales and other operating income, rather than non-operating income. The series was therefore revised to remove development contributions from September 2017 to December 2018 quarters.

Current grants, subsidies and donations income revisions

We revised Current grants, subsidies and donations income after noticing that some capital grants and subsidies income had been included in this category. These capital grants portions were removed from September 2017 to December 2018 quarters.