Jobs cuts the puzzler

The Bundaberg Regional Council is relying on natural attrition to reduce staff numbers.

Max Fleet

BUNDABERG Regional Council has admitted it is relying on natural attrition to make most of the job cuts necessary after three years of amalgamation.

The State Government put a three-year moratorium on staff cuts for three years after the forced amalgamation of the four councils in 2008, and with one year to go the issue is on the council’s mind.

Mayor Lorraine Pyefinch said the management team was doing an operational review, and while they were very mindful the community did not want to see a reduction in services, the council could not spend more money than it had coming in.

“We have a natural 6% movement of staff in any one year, and that equates to about 50 a year,” she said.

“We would look to trim the organisation by 30 to 40 over two years.”

Cr Pyefinch said more than 160 of its 900-strong workforce were over the age of 57, and in the next few years there would be people making decisions on their working future.

But she said the council did not have the money to pay for forced redundancies or early retirements.

Cr Pyefinch said council CEO Peter Byrne and one of the department directors had done 11 staff presentations over the past week or two.

“We have to acknowledge we have many long-term staff members who have done excellent work for the community,” she said.

Cr Pyefinch said one of the fortunate features of the merging of Bundaberg, Burnett, Isis and Kolan shires was the previous councils’ diversity, meaning they did not have a lot of skills double-ups.

The jobs pain was also eased by Bundaberg City Council being understaffed at amalgamation, the two smaller councils having few staff and Burnett Shire Council relying heavily on contractors.

She said among the big projects the council would have to find the money for were the Gin Gin streetscape, and while the airport upgrade was in this year’s budget, the upgrade of the car park would have to be completed next year.

The council was also doing designs for a desperately needed new $6 million wastewater treatment plant for Gin Gin.

“It doesn’t look like there’s any change in the State Government’s attitude towards subsidies for that, so we will have to fund it ourselves,” she said. “We can’t put it off, even if we would like to.”