Council staff will be expected to “do more with less” after dozens of jobs were cut despite Tauranga’s growing population, a union representative says.

Tauranga City Council has already cut 98 jobs and may cut more with a leadership review now under way.

Slashing the employee budget by $12.3 million had helped reduce the draft rates increase to 9.9%.

The council faced public criticism for proposing a 12% rates increase, down from a projected 20%.

PSA assistant secretary for local government Tom Buckley said they had 250 members at the council who had “significant concerns” about their job security.

“Restructuring leaves our members in a state of uncertainty, and it’s been really unsettling for them.

“Our members in local government are very passionate about their local communities and they’re there for a reason, which is they want to do really good work.”

A number of PSA members were affected by the cuts and the union was supporting them through the process, Buckley said.

Tauranga had grown in 20 years and was expected to have 50,000 more residents by 2050, he said.

“It’s just very difficult to see staff taking the hit for the council knowing what’s coming down the road with the population increases [and] the expectations on services.

“The work will still be there, it’ll just be less people to do that work.”

PSA union assistant secretary for local government Tom Buckley. Photo / Supplied

The concern for local government employees was the long-term plan to manage growth, Buckley said.

Councils looked after services such as waste, libraries, pools, parks and other infrastructure that were significant in people’s daily lives, he said.

“Whenever there’s a reduction in the people that can do that work, there’s going to be an impact in the future.

“You’re asking people to do more with less, but in the face of not just a stable increased workflow but an increasing one.”

There needed to be appropriate staffing levels to ensure the council could retain its service levels and infrastructure, Buckley said.

As of May 31, the council had 1133 fulltime-equivalent employees. This included some people involved in the restructure who had already left, said chief executive Marty Grenfell.

The initial organisation “reset” proposal began in late March with a focus on disestablishing roles.

Tauranga City Council chief executive Marty Grenfell. Photo / Alex Cairns

After consulting with staff, the decision was made to disestablish 98 roles. That process would be completed by July 1, Grenfell said.

Another proposal was being released to staff this month looking at the form, function and leadership structure of the council, he said.

Meetings with affected staff were continuing this week, and final decisions would be shared by July 18, Grenfell said.

Every council department lost roles as part of the initial reset, he said.

Asked how this would impact the council’s workload, Grenfell said it would not impact regulatory functions or statutory timeframes.

Through the Annual Plan process, the council’s capital programme reduced, so its people resources adjusted accordingly, he said.

“As we are still implementing the changes, it’s too soon to tell how much of an impact these changes will have on overall workload.”

The council was also reviewing its spending on consultants and external contractors, which would reduce as part of the reset, Grenfell said.

“The intention behind both the March and June proposals is to find efficiencies in our operations, while mitigating any significant impact on service delivery to the community.”

Grenfell said he understood people’s concerns about job security.

“Change of this nature and uncertainty is unsettling and it is our intention to work through the process in a timely manner.

“The continued growth of the city and future workload is something we are conscious of, as is legislative change and reform, including Local Water Done Well and changes to our regulatory functions.”

According to the council’s 2023/24 Annual Report, it spent about $99m on personnel salaries and wages, up about $16.7m on the prior year.

It spent about $43m on consultants and project-related consultant services, up by about $2.6m.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.