A major restructure of Timaru District Council staffing was announced on Monday, impacting 71 roles across the organisation.
Council facilities were closed for a period on Monday afternoon as staff gathered to learn about chief executive Nigel Trainor’s proposal, which will cut 71 roles and introduce 19 new ones, resulting in a net reduction of 52 roles.
Mr Trainor said the proposal aimed to save between $3.5 million and $4m per year.
‘‘Today [Monday] I informed staff that I was proposing a significant restructure of the organisation to help it move back into long-term financial sustainability.
‘‘Through the work on our annual plan, it’s become very clear that we have a significant operating deficit that we have to bring down. The only ways we can tackle this are through increasing our income through rates and charges or cutting how much we spend.’’
In the current year, council had reduced its reliance on external consultants by about $500,000, reduced legal costs, and increased scrutiny of what was purchased following a review of spending.
‘‘We need to be mindful that we remain affordable to the community, and while we’ve made operational savings, unfortunately the only other option we have available is to reduce our salary costs.’’
In the current 2024-25 financial year, the council raised rates by 15%, and has signalled in the LTP a 12% increase for 2025-26 and 2026-27 financial years.
Mr Trainor said continued increases of this scale were not considered sustainable for ratepayers but had been necessary to meet the council’s spending commitments.
‘‘However, the reality is even with these increases, TDC has an ongoing operating deficit that must be addressed.’’
Elected members had told council staff that costs needed to be reduced to address the deficit.
Staffing costs had continued to rise over the past few years.
Personnel costs budgeted in 2024-25 were $33.132m — an increase of $4.732m, or 18% on the previous year — and followed increases of $2.336m (10.4%) in 2022-23 and $1.396m (5.6%) in 2023-24.
‘‘The proposal I’m putting forward is to flatten the structure to help us run more efficiently and speed up decision-making at council. This is a major change . . . and it’s one that I want to do once and do right, so I’m keen to hear from staff.’’
Mr Trainor said no decisions had been made, nor would they be made until there was an opportunity to consult staff and their representatives on the proposal.
Feedback, suggestions and input into the proposal, including any suggested alternatives, would be welcomed.
Feedback from staff is expected to be sought over the next month.
‘‘If we can do this well and get the organisation on a sustainable footing, then we shouldn’t have to do it again,’’ Mr Trainor said.
