“There’s only so much you can ask people to do before you start overloading them,” he said. “I’m confident that won’t happen and it’s been a careful consideration.”
He said the move was not “just about cutting costs”.
“We are setting ourselves up to perform better.”
Langford’s statement said the restructure would make it easier for departments across the council to work in a more co-ordinated way.
“This will also make it easier for people and businesses to work with the council,” it said.
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) chairman Sam Broughton told the Chronicle finances had been a clear focus for councils over the past 12 months.
“We’ve seen rates rise far higher than they’ve been in the past,” he said. “Each council makes its own decision on how to best respond, whether that be [cutting] projects, capital spending, increased borrowing or looking at operations.”
There were very limited funding levers for councils, with rates a key tool “and borrowing being the other”, he said.
Langford said the council’s teams at venues and events, Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery, NZ Glassworks and tourism and visitor industries would become one. The tourism and visitor industries team was formally part of economic development agency Whanganui & Partners, which was brought in-house at the council earlier this year.
No one in those areas would lose their jobs but there was a new leader – the manager of visitor experiences, he said.
Meanwhile, Broughton did not want to comment on the specifics of the job cuts in Whanganui but said councils were always looking at staffing.
“As elected members, we employ one person – the chief executive. “They are responsible for delivering the strategic direction the council sets. That includes staff within the organisation.”
In a written statement, Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe said one of his campaign focus areas in 2022 was “for a more streamlined and efficient council” and the burden on ratepayers was unsustainable.
He said Langford had to meet financial targets of just over $13.4m for 2024/25 in savings and non-rates revenue.
In October, Langford reported he was on track at about $5.7m. That included reducing insurance premiums, selling council vehicles and returns on council’s property portfolio.
Council’s staff vacancy programme has a savings target of $1.68m for the 2024/25 financial year, with $312,000 saved by the end of September. The rate increase for 2025/26 is predicted to be 6.6%, down from 11.2% for the current financial year.
Langford told the Chronicle 319 FTE positions had been budgeted for in council’s 10-year (long-term) plan. Following the restructure there would be 298 FTEs.
He said restructures were never good news for staff but they understood the cost pressures council and ratepayers were under, he said. “I couldn’t have asked for anything more from them.”
Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.
