Council signals 500 job cuts to trim gaping deficit

Grim news comes on top of 600 part-time staff who have already been let go

Auckland Council is planning to cut about 500 jobs due to the financial impact of Covid-19. In an email to staff from acting chief executive Patricia Reade yesterday she said fulltime equivalent staff numbers would reduce from 6500 to about 6000.

The job cuts are on top of 600 parttime staff who have already been let go by council, one of the city’s largest employers.

The job losses are part of the savings that must be found to fill a $750 million hole in the council’s budget as a result of lost revenue from the impacts of Covid-19.

Next week councillors will make tough calls on the “emergency budget” to plug the hole, including savage cuts to transport and fewer community services.

Reade said she knows staff will be concerned about what the budget means to them and their role at the council.

“The economic impact of Covid-19 has meant the entire council group is having to work hard to find savings, so we can continue to deliver the services that Aucklanders value,” Reade said.

She said the council’s share of the savings is significant at around $120m.

Good progress was being made, she said, with each business area in council having identified savings of about $90m.

These include deferring or slowing down projects, scaling back events or reducing spending in areas like marketing and professional services.

The remaining $30m will need to come from a review of operating spending being led by a transition unit.

“In identifying savings, we have worked hard to minimise the impact on jobs, particularly where our people deliver important services for

Aucklanders.” Reade said the council began with contractors and temps, removing more than 600 positions, and have asked staff earning over $100,000 to consider voluntary pay reductions.

“But even with these measures in place, we will need to reduce the size of our workforce to meet the overall savings target.

“We estimate that we will need to reduce the number of full-time equivalent staff in our organisation from around 6500 at the end of June to around 6000.

“This is only an estimate at this stage, but it reinforces that to play our part we will need to become a smaller, more adaptable organisation,” ‘Reade said.

The job cuts apply to council staff, not staff at the five CCOs.

In identifying savings, we have worked hard to minimise the impact on jobs.

Acting chief executive Patricia Reade