Review of staff numbers inevitable as budget honed

Otago Daily Times

27-04-2025

Alex Parmley. Photo: ODT files
A review of Waitaki District Council staffing is inevitable as it finalises a budget for the next few years.
The council held a workshop on April 15 to begin honing department budgets for the proposed 2025-26 long-term plan (LTP).
The discussions followed a revision of all council departments under "transformation" from July last year.
Departments were cut from four to five with the respective managers now termed as "directors".
Chief executive Alex Parmley told councillors last month new department "teams" under transformation — which he emphatically said is not a restructure — were yet to fully be "stood up".
The consequent department costings were also not ready in time for the formal LTP public consultation period from February 4.
Earlier this month, Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said a governance briefing on April 15 was "the first opportunity for quite sometime" to get a clearer picture.
A closed workshop to begin fleshing out individual department budgets was scheduled that afternoon.
Mr Kircher said the potential impact was "about people's jobs".
But getting a handle on comparable department costs was complex by "the transformation" with previous headings disappearing in the new structure.
"Some of the roles, the funding itself, is now made up of components more than it was before."
The council announced a 9% reduction of its 211 fulltime equivalent roles last July.
Most staff were to reapply for redefined positions, with some choosing to leave.
In February councillors were told staff costs would be over budget by $1.4 million by the end of the current financial year.
The budget for the first six months was $8.93m but the spend was $9.6m.
On February 25, Mr Parmley said the 9% staff reduction had not yet been finalised, but he expected a cost reduction down the line.
"We've got other costs going up associated with staff though.
"The 9% reduction isn't all going to come in straight away.
"I would expect we'll be looking at a reduced personnel cost."
Mr Kircher told the Oamaru Mail "transformation" was never about cutting budgets.
"One of the outcomes is we will be delivering [services] better, whether its for the same money, or more for less."
As of last week he believed "quite a number" of vacancies remained at the council after some staff chose to leave.
Acting chief executive Lisa Baillie said one FTE position at the council prior to transformation is now being filled by an external contractor "on a temporary basis".
Recruitment for that position in support services area was under way.