The NPDC savings were part of a broader "transformation" initiative aimed at reducing operational costs while maintaining service delivery. Here’s how they did it:
- Staff Reduction and Restructuring: The council significantly reduced its workforce, cutting 209 permanent positions and making 66 staff redundant between August 2023 and mid-2024. This reduced overall staffing from 750 to 677, a 9.7% decrease. The restructuring focused on eliminating redundancies, disestablishing vacant roles, and redeploying staff where possible.
- Management Tier Reduction: Decreasing its third-tier management positions from 40 to 23. This streamlined decision-making and reduced salary costs at the management level.
- Operational
Efficiencies: The council identified additional
savings through operational improvements. This included reducing reliance
on external consultants and lawyers. These measures added to the financial savings without
compromising core services.
- Targeted Savings Goal: The council set an explicit goal in its draft long-term plan to save at least $10 million annually.
The result of these efforts was a reduction in the average rates rise for residents, dropping from a projected 17% to 11.5% in 2024.
The NPDC did not rely on external consultants to review spending. Instead, the focus
of their "transformation" initiative was on internal restructuring
and operational efficiencies, and spending less (!) on external consultants.