Tauranga City Council has too many staff and should begin shedding them, says former mayor of Western Bay of Plenty District Council Maureen Anderson.
Her submission to TCC's 2014/2015 draft annual plan is for the council to resolve on removing a percentage of council staff during a five-year period.
Maureen Anderson.
And this includes the 27-32 per cent of former Tauranga City Council staff, who Maureen says have been shifted sideways into the council controlled organisation Bay Leisure and Events Ltd.
A second resolution could be to hire an independent person to investigate staff levels and report directly to the council, not the chief executive officer.
'It's incongruous and slightly incestuous that any local government chief executive officer investigate a function which has an outcome that ultimately becomes an element of the matrix that has been established by consultancies employed by councils throughout New Zealand to advise on a CEO's managers' remuneration and benefit packages,” says Maureen, who spoke on her submission at council yesterday.
While savings might initially be consumed by termination payments for the laid-off staff, after five years savings made will repay debt, provide more and better rationalised services and create a greater understanding and acceptance of council processes by ratepayers, says Maureen.
'It's my long-held belief the staffing levels at TCC are too large for the elements, areas, and statutory requirements that are a territorial authority's obligations to meet.
'The per cent ratio of staff costs to rates revenue is too high. The consequential, ongoing costs of supporting the elevated staffing levels are anybody's best guess.”
Maureen went on to say a subject for a workshop for the new council is the re-organisation of local government, as envisaged by Michael Bassett and implemented in 1989.
'After the first flush of success, the corporate arm of councils continued to slowly move back in time to pre-reorganisation,” says Maureen.
The backward step has stifled regional growth, throttled competition in many sectors, and is becoming a huge burden on the rate-paying public, says Maureen.
Councillors promised Maureen a reply in June, when council replies to submitters with deliberations on their chosen submission topics.
10 comments
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Posted on 09-05-2014 16:50 | By Sambo Returns
exactly correct, but now watch your back, the mid management Council employees will not like having a lump in their gravy, and the City Council was 3 x years ago more than 34% overstaffed,imagine the decent amenities the region would have if both Councils reduced staff by 25%, and what was left, told to work smarter!!!!.
Work already done, paid for, but likely buried
Posted on 09-05-2014 18:59 | By Murray.Guy
Maureen, independent and expert consultants have already carried out a 'whole of organisation' analysis. The reports are all available, if NOT destroyed. The outcome of this, coupled with an identified unacceptable culture within the organisation, is what formed the basis of the re-structure initiated by former CEO Ken Patterson 8 months after his appointment. An immediate $3million reduction in the annual wage bill was promised as a starting point, with TCC have a grossly inflated staff to supervisor ratio of 4 to 1. (National average 10-1). Not only did the re-structure become a re-shuffle, but I understand staffing levels have continued to grow. Unfortunately the Councillors appear unwilling to apply their skills and meaningful monitor operational budgets, procurements and staff budgets. Much easier to cancel a library bus, increase pool fees and reduce hours!
Well said
Posted on 09-05-2014 23:29 | By nerak
Maureen, I would give you my vote anytime!
Submissions
Posted on 09-05-2014 23:44 | By Robyn Craig
Hope Maureen Anderson gets a reply in June cos I am still waiting for a reply on submission presented May last year.. And was promised reply on June last year.
I wish Maureen was Mayor of Tauranga
Posted on 10-05-2014 09:08 | By The Sage
As well as her vision she might also consider stopping all local body funding to Priority One and making them a stand alone commercial business. Then we would see how good they actually are rather than jobs for the boys.
Happening for a long time...
Posted on 10-05-2014 09:19 | By groutby
It has taken awhile for someone to openly state the situation as it clearly is....and Murray has confirmed this in his posting,however, who will actually grow a set and do something about it?..While the ratepayer is held continually at gunpoint to pay more and more for more and more "bums on seats" at the TCC, then nothing will change. A typical government department isn't it?.. It would be a sad day for many (at TCC) if the restructure was possible,bureaucracy kept to a minimum,and decision makers actually making them!..but I can't see anything changing as long as these decisions are kept "in house",and all we had recently was the expensive (to ratepayers of course) farce that was "restructuring", even the outside company employed by TCC to do their job wasn't capable of doing it!..pathetic!...
Mr Guy, how come CEOs hire consultants?
Posted on 10-05-2014 11:42 | By Councillorwatch
Didn't even the former CEO Murray Guy seems to mention a lot, hire consultants to do the job? I thought your CEOs were well paid and skilled enough to restructure based on their own observations. But I think it's amazingly two sided for Murray Guy to criticise cuts to library bus or increases to user charges for pools (how much does the ratepayer subsidise pools already?) but conveniently ignore the huge amounts of money spent at Baypark under his Council, including the purchase of a Speedway business and a catering business??? Now isn't former Cr Guy an active Speedway competitor???
Maybe some questions need to be asked of AuditNZ
Posted on 10-05-2014 23:20 | By Bronzewing
I was one of the many disposed of in the great restructure 18 months ago to cut down the staff numbers. After all that was done there are more staff than ever. Some of the ones made redundant are now consulting back at much inflated rate. Maybe the Audit Dept should be asked to provide the TOTAL staff, recruitment consultants, temp CEO costs, legal advise on staff matters, the true cost of redundancy and how many staff have been reemployed on a contract basis from the time Stephen Town left. It is no surprise wonder boy is retiring this election because if the real costs ever come out from his time as Mayor he would get lynched in the polls. The debacle over his spin doctor job getting axed still would have cost ratepayers tens of thousands in actual costs as job scoping, advertising and recruitment is done externally.
Give it up Murray
Posted on 11-05-2014 00:18 | By WHAT
There is a reason you are no longer in office
Murray
Posted on 12-05-2014 12:20 | By YOGI BEAR
You have called that one correctly, the numbers are shocking and no sign of reprieve for ratepayers, TCC staff have a budget and the culture is to spend or lose it. So they spend it and some .... result rate increases .....
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