Wellington. Photo: Wellington City Council
Wellington City Council could save tens of millions of dollars through cost-cutting, such as reducing staff, according to a new report.
In August, the then-new council chief executive Matt Prosser commissioned independent analysis from Deloitte of the council's processes, as well as finding opportunities to improve performance and rates affordability.
That report was revealed on Tuesday afternoon, and highlighted issues such as the council's aging technology, double-handling and ambiguity around the council's roles and how it differed from central government.
It said through "right shaping" the council workforce and optimising spending through better governance, contract compliance and strategic sourcing, the council could save up to $79 million over three years.
Prosser said some of Deloitte's recommendations were at odds with the wishes of the community and decisions previously made by the council.
Matt Prosser. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
"It's important we don't get ahead of the democratic decision processes at the heart of local government.
"We will critically assess everything in the report against the needs and aspirations of our communities."
He said in the short-term the council would be focused on finding cost savings and making operational improvements.
"Throughout this process our staff will be kept informed, and we will seek their views on the initiatives raised in the report. As is council's practice, we will also be engaging with the unions."
The council had removed 58 roles over the past few months, he said.
"We've also kicked off a programme to improve our delivery across a number of areas including contract management, procurement and asset management."
The report said the council had 330 more staff than it should, based on the number of full time employees per 1000 households.
It found that would result in a 18.5 percent reduction in employees and on an average it would save $33.9 million.
The report said the council had only 20 percent of its contracts overseen by its centralised management system which would make it difficult to monitor spending.
It also said contracts were often rolled over or directly appointed based on past performance, which may miss competitive opportunities that offer better value for money.
Wellington Mayor Andrew Little said those findings highlighted a different direction for the organisation was required.
"That goes to the point that change is needed if we are going to get more effective management."
Prosser said the way contracts had been managed was "not best practice".
"That's something certainly I want to eradicate and make sure that we are managing contracts well."
He said the council was focused on managing vacancies and it was not a change process.
The report cost $435,000, Prosser said.
'A flimsy PowerPoint presentation' - PSA
PSA national secretary Duane Leo said the report was "fundamentally flawed".
"This is a flimsy PowerPoint presentation that lacks any depth, rigour or even a basic understanding of what the Council's role is.
"Hidden in the fine print, the report notes that its assumptions need to be validated and shouldn't be relied upon for decision-making."
Leo said it was based on crude benchmarking that ignored Wellington City Council provided services many other councils don't such as social housing, city housing and addressing homelessness.
He said it also did not include that an extra 22,000 people come into the city every day for work.
"You cannot remove one in five positions without serious impacts. Building consent times will blow out. Libraries will have reduced hours. Parks will be less well maintained. Council has already removed 58 roles this year and staff are stretched thin."
The Deloitte report made note that the council should make more use of AI for tasks such as triaging general enquiries from the public, creating reporting on project management and automate workflows.
Leo said the union was concerned about the proposed use of AI.
"Deloitte is assuming AI can deliver productivity gains of up to 50 percent but they haven't done the work to show replacing experienced staff with ChatGPT would actually deliver those results."
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