Matt Cowley Tauranga City Councillor

A handful of people made public requests for Tauranga City Council to cut our staff numbers by up to half, believing costs are too high.

Staff costs make up 20 per cent of council's yearly budget, which totals $175 million this year. But let's not forget, council is in a service industry – this involves people serving residents.

The previous council tried to cut staff numbers, but they were not brave enough to reduce service levels. This meant council had to hire contractors and consultants to meet community needs. Any staff savings were false – a zero-sum gain – while it jeopardised our services.

I believe it's cowardly of people, namely former councillors, to make public requests for council to cut staff numbers without also identifying which services we need to reduce. Services do not run themselves.

I welcome the more honest and braver conversation on reducing service levels, which will inherently reduce staff costs.

At least this council has been brave enough to engage communities on which services we can decrease.

The public report being discussed at council next week shows our staff numbers are in line with Tauranga's population growth, GDP, and the value of assets we manage – now worth more than $3 billion.

The report estimates about 30 FTEs fill responsibilities that have been passed down from Central Government.

But it is councillors, not Members of Parliament, who face the political repercussions of Parliament's decisions to put costs on council, and therefore, ratepayers.

Are council's staff numbers out of control? I don't believe so.

Can council be more efficient? Absolutely!

It's a key reason why I support investing in our digital strategy. For example, ensuring our databases talk to each other will mean less manual data entry by staff.

I also want to follow the lead of the NZ Police, who have significantly increased frontline hours by supplying officers with tablets. They complete their ‘paperwork' on the spot using tablets without spending hours writing reports back at the office.

I'm looking forward to our building inspectors being able to approve building works onsite.

Investing in new technology may not save council money. But it will give us better value by improving Council's efficiency and freeing up staff time to serve community needs.

Feel free to email me your thoughts (matt.cowley@tauranga.govt.nz), call/text me on 027 6989 548, and follow me at www.facebook.com/a.younger.voice.