Andrew von Dadelszen Former Regional Councillor

Isn't it great that one of our local bodies, Tauranga City Council is finally looking at a major restructuring of their organisation?

The reduction of 45 jobs, plus a further 32 by 2014, will be welcomed by ratepayers, if in fact it eventuates. This organisation currently employs 505 staff, so a 45 decrease represents a drop of nine per cent and if the further 32 eventuates that equates to a 15 per cent drop. This is an organisation that grew its full time staff by 132 during the previous seven years (increases averaging 4.5 per cent annually), so just like the regional council (which the same ratepayers also fund and grew staff 40 per cent during the same period) Tauranga City has got plenty of fat in the system.

As I have said previously, reducing staff is the quickest way to shave local government costs. This really is a cost-plus industry, but hopefully Tauranga City will follow through with this staff reduction strategy. I have to say that I'm not that confident, as we saw the regional council conduct a similar review, when the previous CEO was appointed; and yet despite a lot of rhetoric, his restructuring proposal might have improved efficiencies in some areas, but staff numbers rose 40 per cent during this period, and the efficiency gains expected by moving the regional headquarters from Whakatane to Tauranga has been one big joke, with duplicated services and duplicated cost to ratepayers.

The regional council remains a bloated organisation, and it is so disappointing that our hopes in the mid-2000s to turn it from a good into a great organisation just never eventuated. Turning the Western Bay into a unitary council, combining the functions of Tauranga City, Western Bay of Plenty District Council and the western portion of the regional council, will be a great day for local ratepayers, and needs to happen immediately. Local ratepayers can't afford the duplication and waste, and neither can we afford to continue to subsidise Rotorua and the Eastern Bay of Plenty. Come on all you local councillors (city, district and regional) - justify your fees and make real change to save ratepayers millions of dollars. Leave you parochialism and vested interests behind and drive reform – now.

If you have a view on these or any other local government issues, I invite you to email me at andrew@vond.co.nz or visit www.vond.co.nz