New Plymouth District Council has committed to $100 million in operational savings over the next 10 years. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
New Plymouth District Council has axed hundreds of jobs and made dozens of staff redundant as part of an ongoing restructure.
Since August last year, 209 permanent positions have been cut and 66 staff made redundant at a cost of almost $2 million over two financial years.
Overall staffing has been reduced from 750 to 677 - a decrease of 9.7 percent.
Chief executive Gareth Green said so far, the "transformation" had cut $7m from the operating budget, with more cost savings in the pipeline coming from operational efficiencies.
These included income diversification and capitalising project costs, such as reducing licencing and contractor costs, he said.
"The savings from this transformation helped us reduce the average rates rise this year from over 17 percent to 11.5 percent. As well as reducing our costs, at the heart of this review is delivering better outcomes for our residents and ratepayers - making sure our organisation is fit for purpose and that we had the right resources, people and skills to do that.
"I am confident we are now better aligned to deliver on our strategy and work programmes."
Green acknowledged the professionalism of staff during what had been a long and tough process on them and their families.
"During this time, we were developing our Long-term Plan, a $4.5b work programme over the next decade, which is a massive piece of work involving almost the whole organisation - and the way people pulled together and delivered this has been amazing."
In the recently adopted Long-term Plan 2024-2034, the council committed to $100m operational savings over the next 10 years.
Restructure numbers at end of July:
- 677 positions down from 750 in August 2023
- 209 permanent positions disestablished
- 66 staff made redundant
- $1.89m severance costs over two financial years
