Tauranga City Council's chief executive has been given the power to spend up to half-a- million dollars on unbudgeted items.
The council's Finance & Risk Committee yesterday decided to double the amount the chief executive could authorise to spend without council sanction.
The move would give Garry Poole the ability to settle a legal situation or approve works in the case of a emergency like a tsunami.
The changes came after a review into staff financial delegation, with department heads also given the authority to approve unplanned spends of up to $100,000, without first seeking their manager's permission.
Previously they could only authorise unbudgeted spends of $50,000 and the chief executive just $250,000.
Mayor Stuart Crosby told the Bay of Plenty Times the amounts were "reasonable" considering council's $170 million-a- year operational budget.
"There are really only a couple of times this would be used, if there was some sort of legal settlement that needed to be worked through, if council was going through court and a judge told us to settle.
"These changes mean the chief executive could do that with no delay, no waiting for a council meeting. The other case would be in the time of a civil emergency, where you just have to do something right then and there: a public safety or hygiene issue, a massive sewerage pipe break, that sort of thing."
The changes also gave the chief executive the power to approve contracts running over multiple years instead of being limited to spends associated with the annual plan.
Former TCC councillor and previous mayoral candidate Mike Baker asked if the new councillors knew the extent of the powers being handed over to the chief executive.
"I am staggered that a council in a financial position like TCC is loosening the purse strings instead of tightening them ...
The changes were voted in unanimously by the elected members present.