Council slices $1M from traffic budget

Press, 7 May 1987, Page 8

Council slices $1M from traffic budget

More than $1 million was sliced from the Christchurch City Council’s works and traffic draft budget last evening. The council’s works and traffic committee, led by Cr Ron Wright, reduced the budget for the council’s biggest-spending department 5 per cent. Cr Wright had set a target increase of about 15 per cent, and after almost four hours of budget discussions last evening the committee was only 0.7 per cent from achieving that. The budget that he brought as chairman to last evening’s meeting showed a rates take 21 per cent greater than last year. Council staff had trimmed $BO,OOO from that to bring the increase to 20.6 per cent, and presented options for councillors to further reduce it to as little as 13.9 per

cent. By the end of the meeting, they had taken $1,069,000 off the spending list of $42 million to achieve a 15.7 per cent increase needed from Cr Wright said after the meeting that he believed that to be a reasonable figure given the major increase in costs for Accident Compensation Corporation levies and Joan servicing. It was too. early to determine what effect the $1 million cut — if approved by the budget subcommittee and the council — would have on staff in the works and traffic department. A study of staffing in the department is allowed for in the budget. That would be the key to ensuring staff efficiency, Cr Wright said. Mr Harold Surtees, the deputy general manager, works, said the cut would

not mean putting existing staff off. It would probably mean less seasonal staff being employed and not replacing staff who left.

The City Engineer, Mr John Ince, noted that postponing works to achieve the cut would ' increase pressure on the staff by ratepayers anxious that particular work be done. Cr Wright believed that pressure would ease as staff more efficiently achieved what was to be done. Last month, he said, he believed 200 staff could be cut from the total council list to improve efficiency.

Mr Surtees told councillors that natural attrition over the last four years had reduced the number of wage workers in the department 18 per cent. The budget cut was achieved largely by postponing a number of streetwork projects and delaying maintenance.