7 March 2023
Max Shierlaw
[FYI request #21776 email]
Tēnā koe Max
Request for Information pursuant to the Local Government Official Information and
Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA)
Thank you for your correspondence of 9 February 2023. Referring to Recommendation 3 of
the Hutt City Council’s draft Annual Plan 2023-24 (which was presented to the Long Term
Plan (LTP) Sub-Committee meeting on 20 December 2022), you have requested the following
official information:
1. A breakdown of what the identified savings are.
2. In which activity and in which year they are in the LTP.
3. Which vacant positions will not be filled and a cost by activity of the money avoided.
4. All other information by cost, activity and year of the $12million avoided costs.
Our responses to the above points are as follows:
Points 1 and 2
A thorough review of the budgets for the 2023-24 Annual Plan was carried out prior to being
presented to Council, to address the significant cost pressures. The review focused on the
total Council position rather than being at an activity level, so your request for activity level
information is refused under section 17(g) of the LGOIMA.
The review did, however, provide a breakdown of the $6.5M savings by year. This information
is appended to this letter as
Appendix A. This breakdown is based on a comparison to the
budgets in the 2022-23 Annual Plan for the same categories of expenditure across the period
2024-31 in the draft 2023-24 Annual Plan.
Points 3 and 4
We are progressing with a 6% vacancy assumption across the council. As a result, we
identified that some work could be reprioritised to existing roles for limited periods, along with
a temporary freeze being placed on making appointments to some vacant roles. We can’t be
specific about individual positions. These are withheld under section 7(2)(i) of the LGOIMA.
As advised above, we do not hold an analysis of the savings by activity because the reported
information was based on a review performed at an all-of-Council level. Accordingly, your
request for this information at activity level is refused under section 17(g) of the LGOIMA.
Initial budgets prepared in October 2022 resulted in $21M increased employee costs
compared to 2022-23 Annual Plan, for the period 2024-31. Following the thorough reviews
that we carried out, the budgets were able to be reduced. This resulted in a net budget
increase of $8M when compared to the 2022-23 Annual Plan. The ‘costs avoided’ is the
difference between the initial variance of $21M and the revised variance of $8M. A breakdown
of the $12.9M avoided employee costs as reported from 2024-31 is attached as
Appendix B. You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this response.
Information about how to make a complaint is available a
t www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
freephone 0800 802 602.
Please note that this letter may be published on the Council’s website.
Nāku noa, nā
Susan Sales
Senior Advisor, Official Information and Privacy
Encl:
APPENDIX A: Breakdown of the $6.5M savings by year ($1000)
APPENDIX B: Breakdown of the $12.9M avoided employee costs as reported from 2024-31
($1000)
APPENDIX A
Breakdown of the $6.5M savings by year ($1000)
Total saving
OTHER MISCELLANEOUS OPERATING COST SAVINGS
over 8 years
2023/2024
2024/2025
2025/2026
2026/2027
2027/2028
2028/2029
2028/2029
2030/2031
Promotion and publicity Connectivity, Creativity, Learning & Recreation
263
30
31
31
32
33
34
35
36
Promotion and publicity City Development
204
24
23
24
24
25
27
28
30
Promotion and publicity Community Partnering & Support
161
18
19
19
20
20
21
22
22
Promotion and publicity Corporate Services
2,071
238
240
245
252
260
269
278
289
Legal - expenses
242
30
59
26
27
(6)
32
35
39
Bank charges - expenses
337
39
39
40
41
42
44
46
48
Equipment purchases <$2500
561
61
65
66
68
70
73
77
80
Postage and courier
263
38
35
33
31
31
30
31
34
Internal entertainment and catering
103
12
12
12
12
13
13
14
15
Mileage reimbursements
120
14
14
14
15
15
16
16
17
Misc. accommodation expenses
193
28
24
20
21
26
22
28
24
Contracted services for office building cleaning
269
35
27
25
26
29
35
41
50
Airfares for domestic travel
198
35
24
20
20
26
22
28
23
Other travel costs
135
16
16
16
17
17
18
18
19
Advertising expenditure
3
24
2
(16)
11
(12)
(11)
14
(9)
Other financial expense
91
13
8
7
7
9
12
15
20
Venue hire - expenses
23
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
Tea and coffee - expenses
149
18
17
17
18
18
19
20
21
Internet charges - expenses
723
83
84
86
88
91
94
97
100
Web maintenance - expenses
276
32
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
External entertainment - expenses
4
1
-
1
1
1
1
1
1
Materials - expenses
59
7
6
6
6
7
8
9
10
Credit card merchant fees - expenses
33
4
3
3
3
4
4
5
6
TOTAL
6,482
803
784
732
778
757
821
898
915
APPENDIX B
Breakdown of the $12.9M avoided employee costs as reported from 2024-31 ($1000)
Employee cost budgets -
Initial budget variance to
2024
2025
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031 Total
AP23
Total
2 ,220 3 ,088 1 ,230 2 ,803 2 ,594 2 ,804 2 ,875 2 ,947 2 0,562
Employee cost budgets -
revised Variance to AP23
2024
2025
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031 Total
after further reviews
Total
1 ,315 1 ,211 420
1 ,054 770
935
958
983
7 ,645
Difference between above
2024
2025
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031 Total
Total
( 905) ( 1,877) ( 811) ( 1,749) ( 1,824) ( 1,870) ( 1,916) ( 1,964) ( 12,917)