Operating surplus or deficit for New Zealand local authorities

Local government: New Zealand has a system of local government administered by local authorities. Local authorities comprise city councils, district councils, regional councils, and unitary authorities. Unitary authorities are city and district councils that also perform the functions of a regional council. Local authorities all have elected boards called councils
Local government funding: Councils are free to set their expenditure priorities and overall levels of expenditure. They receive income from many sources including rates, sales, and grants. Local government in New Zealand is not involved in the funding, administration, or management of education, social welfare, police, traffic control and enforcement, or urban fire services.

Total operating income = All rates + Dividends received + Interest received + Regulatory income + All government grants and subsidies received + Sales of goods and services, and all other income
Total Expense Excluding Non-operating Items = Employee Costs + Depreciation + Interest Paid + Purchases of Goods and Services, Grants and Donations, and Other Operating Expenditure
Surplus = Total operating income minus Total Expense Excluding Non-operating Items.

http://datainfoplus.stats.govt.nz/Item/nz.govt.stats/f0e135ea-1e3b-466d-a4dd-5eb83238605c#/nz.govt.stats/6b61b803-2c51-4b8d-af97-682e14731eb9/15#

The quarterly operating result included in this release excludes non-operating items such as extraordinary gains or losses, and asset revaluations. These items are usually identified when the annual results are released. Data about council-controlled organisations (formerly called local authority trading enterprises) is not included in this release.

In June 2020, the seasonal adjustment series were reviewed and additive outlier adjustments were applied to account for the impacts of COVID-19 to the following series:
- Regulatory income and petrol tax
- Sales and other operating income
- Total operating income
- Purchases and other operating expenditure.

At URL provided, download 'Local authority statistics: June 2025 quarter – CSV'.

Local authority statistics are accounting-based estimates of the money local authorities in New Zealand earn and spend on their core business. Local authorities are city councils, district councils, unitary authorities, and regional councils.

Statistics in this release are based on data collected in the quarterly Local Authority Survey. Since 1 November 2010, Stats NZ have collected information about New Zealand's 11 regional councils and 68 territorial authorities in the quarterly Local Authority Survey. The survey covers all regional and local council responsibilities and functions.