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Otago Daily Times
27-04-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Review of staff numbers inevitable as budget honed
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.
Associated Press
27-01-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Referees in Germany's Bundesliga to start in-stadium announcements for VAR calls
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German soccer referees will start making NFL-style announcements to the crowd to explain video review rulings starting this week. Bayern Munich and German champion Bayer Leverkusen are among nine clubs taking part in a trial program at their home games from Saturday onward, the German league said Monday. Following on from a trial in the English League Cup earlier this month, five games this week have been selected for the first wave of Germany's program, including Bayern's game against Holstein Kiel on Saturday. It will only affect a minority of games in the top two men's leagues for now. Referees will use a headset microphone linked to the public address system to communicate directly with fans after incidents that required review by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system. Only the final decision will be broadcast in the stadium, not discussions between the on-field referee and colleagues. In Germany, many fans still resent VAR for interrupting the flow of the game and, as some see it, penalizing defenders too harshly. The chief executive of the refereeing body for the leagues, Knut Kircher, argued Monday that making the VAR process clearer to fans was the logical next step. 'Despite all the controversial discussions about the video assistants, we want to keep working together with the (German Football League) and its clubs to make the referees' decisions in the stadium more transparent,' Kircher said in a statement. 'In the 'public announcement' we see a clear first step toward greater clarity and we have taken care to train our referees on the procedures. Therefore we are confident that we can successfully support this new approach even if it will seem unusual to begin with.' Soccer is a relative latecomer to announcements which are widely used in other team sports. NFL referees were given wireless microphones in 1975 to explain penalty decisions. Major League Baseball began in-park announcements during replay reviews in 2022 and microphones have long-been used by rugby referees. In soccer, in-stadium announcements were in place at the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2023 and other FIFA events. ___
