There are a reported 74 people working for South Wairarapa District Council (SWDC), so what do they all do? Officially, SWDC does not know.
Asked for public release of a clearly set-out organisational structure chart, the council has officially stated that it does not have such a document. But it will undertake “further analysis” to create an organisational chart – or “org chart” as they are often called – if paid by a member of the public to do so.
Obviously many or all SWDC employees are competent, diligent and fully engaged in serving South Wairarapa. But do council managers have an organisational structure at their fingertips – telling them who does what?
Apparently not.
An org chart – common in most public agencies and companies – will typically show the roles performed by employees or contractors (without individual people being named), management reporting lines between roles, and the functional ways in which roles and reporting lines are grouped. It’s standard information for public transparency.
The org chart question was one of a series filed with SWDC to help explain numbers in its 2024 annual report (issued last 21 November) and to infill information gaps. The report shows the Council had 74 employees at 30 June 2024, up from 68 one year earlier (30 June 2023).
The report also shows ratepayers paid $6.2 million of SWDC’s wages and salaries bill for the year ended 30 June 2024, which was only $13,000 more than the equivalent sum for 2022-23.
(Some Council employees are paid from grants and recoveries received by SWDC each year from either central government or other local bodies).
Fewer senior managers
In response to the questions, SWDC does confirm that “an organisational realignment” was made during early 2024 to reduce from six to three the number of “group managers” in the tier below Chief Executive. At the same time, two more roles were added at the “tier 3” management level.
This realignment is reflected in the report’s disclosure of reduced senior management remuneration: In 2023-24, SWDC paid $1.03 million to 5.1 roles (representing the whole year) held by senior managers, which was down from $1.30 million in remuneration to 7.0 senior managers in the previous year.
The 2024 report identifies Chief Executive Janice Smith and her three group managers: It gives no indication of any educational and professional qualifications these managers might hold in accounting, engineering, planning or law.
Staffing growth
While senior level roles were reduced in early 2024, overall Council staffing has been growing steadily for some years. Last 30 June, there were 69 full-time and full-time equivalent employees – that is up from an equivalent figure of 52 in June 2019 (up 33% over the five years).
The annual report-based questions (put to the council under the Local Government Official Information & Meetings Act) included a request for explanation of this staffing increase. SWDC is unable to provide an explanation.
Balance date employment numbers do not include roles which might be vacant and waiting to be filled at that date. They also do not include staff at Wellington Water Limited who perform roles for SWDC’s critically-important provision of drinking water, wastewater services and storm water management – roles that were performed, at least partially, within the SWDC organisation prior to October 2019.
Looking back to 2018-19, SWDC’s total wages and salaries for the 52 full-time and other staff cost $3.46 million – not much more than half of the equivalent figure for 2023-24 ($6.4 million).
As a percentage of total Council operating expenditure, employee wages and salaries have gone up from 17% to 18.5% over the past five years.
