Tauranga City Councillors have tried to justify the costs of the recently completed staff review that figures show has resulted in an increase of five council jobs.

When the long anticipated restructuring was announced last November, it was claimed the review would reduce TCC full time staff by 45 jobs.

Tauranga City Council CEO Garry Poole says the council restructure has saved money.

The report to council yesterday shows the process has instead resulted in the loss of 4.6 full time jobs at a saving of $309,636.

The process resulted in 38.3 positions being disestablished and 33.7 new positions being created, saving 4.6 jobs –but then a further 10 full time jobs were reinstated ‘post review'.

Chief executive Gary Poole says the review has saved $1.4 million in wages compared to the previous year.

Councillor Terry Molloy says the result is a council that is fit for purpose and can take its place in the wider Bay of Plenty

'That's the most important factor in all this,” says Terry

Between 2004/05 and 2011/12 TCC staff increased by 124 FTEs (Full Time Equivalent) roles.

The salary budget grew from $19.5million in 2004/05 to $37.5million in the 2012/13 year. In the current financial year the total remuneration budget increased by 3.6 per cent.

The review has cost $1.63million. The new positions created in the review have an average salary of $112,112 compared to the terminated positions of $106,731.

The council report states a saving of $548,955 in the document scanning project as it is scheduled to be completed by the end of January 2014.

Other savings claimed in the review dare being slammed by Tauranga accountant and council watcher Ian Stevenson who says the claimed half million dollar savings from the document scanning contract has no part in a staff review as they are short term contractors, and claiming $325,000 saving by attributing the wages to the council controlled organisations Bay Leisure and Events is deceptive.

'Huge costs have been incurred at ratepayer's expense and nothing has been achieved,” says Ian.

'A reasonable conclusion from that is that TCC staff have successfully achieved what they wanted; jobs remain, pay increases, business as usual.

'All of this illustrates clearly that TCC staff, officials and others have achieved nothing from this whole exercise except to have spent $1.66m and some.”

He says the result of the review indicates the need for a 'real” Independent Staff Audit where TCC staff have no say in it and the tasks undertaken by staff are rationalised.