Council trims back on staff

Nine Whangarei workers have been made redundant as the Whangarei District Council aims to better serve ratepayers.

Information gathered under the Official Information Act shows nine people have left the council in the last 12 months as a result of redundancy.

Since July 2008, overall numbers at the council have dropped by eight from 347 to 339.

A total of $87,906 has been paid out in redundancy payments, an average of $9800 each.

Council chief executive officer Mark Simpson says there have been many changes at the council in the past year including changes to roles and resourcing, new and improved technology and process improvements.

"The aim has been to work more effectively and serve the ratepayers better," he says.

Every department of the council has been affected by the changes.

Mr Simpson says some roles have changed and redundancies have been part of the picture.

In the majority of cases the council has offered redeployment and in many cases it has been taken up, he says.

"When there was a clear need to alter or create roles we have done so. However you can see our overall numbers have fallen by eight," he says.

Mr Simpson says the council is constantly exploring ways to operate more effectively and efficiently, and at the lowest possible cost to the ratepayer.

The redundancy payouts of $87,906 have been offset by savings and by increased efficiency over the coming year, he says.

Restructuring announced by the council in July last year saw the number of departments reduce from five to three, with the aim of improving communications and having a single council focus.

The three groups are infrastructure and services, environment and support services, and a new chief operating officer's department.

The aim of the restructuring was also to reduce council's operational spending by $2 million in the 2008/09 financial year.

Overall, the council's operating expenditure was $117.2m in the 2008/09 year, up from a budgeted $116.8m.

Meanwhile, the Northland Regional Council has not had any redundancies in the last year.

- © Fairfax NZ News