The Taxpayers’ Union releases a 2026 report criticizing Hawke’s Bay councils for high debt, excessive contractor use, and inefficient staffing, urging ratepayers to demand spending restraint and rate caps.
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Now, I would have thought that after all that publicity that Wellington City Council's been getting and the paid staff have been getting for being busted doing things behind the backs of the elected councillors, they probably, possibly wouldn't do it again. And yet, here we are. They've been busted doing it again. So the latest revelation is that they have decided to exempt themselves from a government law that was brought in about three months ago that stops employees who earn more than $200,000. dollars from taking personal grievance cases against their bosses if their bosses fire them as in there will be no golden handshake if you've been sacked and you're earning that much money but guess what Wellington City Council bosses decided they weren't going to do that and they exempted 42% 42 of their staff from this particular law which is kind of unbelievable because this law is supposed to make it easier for bosses to fire incompetent managers who are doing much doing nothing much for years on end in their jobs and Wellington City City Council knows that they have, according to a recent report, possibly a couple of hundred staff that they need to get rid of. They have one of the highest levels of staffing in the country when you compare them with other councils. Each household in Wellington is paying for 19 full-time equivalent staff. Upper Hutt, just up the road, they're only supporting 10 staff. Wellington City Council, 19 staff. As I say, they didn't tell the elected councillors that they'd taken this decision. But a councillor found out about it, started asking questions, turns out it was true. Technically, the council can say they didn't have to tell the elected councillors this, this is an employment decision, they can make it by themselves. But even the mayor, Andrew Little, has said this should have come to the council to sign off, it's not a good look. It is becoming a bit of a running theme, isn't it? Not just in Wellington, but around the country. Unelected staff making decisions in secret that ratepayers probably wouldn't love if they knew about it.
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excessive workforce at public cost
Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Wellington Council's been caught keeping secrets from ratepayers againcritical of overstaffing and high salaries
Taxpayers' Union Launches 2026 Ratepayers' Report for Hawke’s Bay CouncilsSocial-media signal on the same topic, drawn from the social lens. Engagement is likes + 2×shares + 3×replies, the same weighting used across the digest cards. View on /social →
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