Wingecarribee Shire Council redundancies have been costly under administration

Wingecarribee Council has revealed the cost of the high staff turnover within the organisation has come with a hefty price tag.

The high rate of staff turnover at Wingecarribee Council has cost ratepayers nearly $900,000.

Last month, suspended mayor Duncan Gair told The Bowral News the loss of a number of hardworking staff would be expensive for the community. He anticipated the expenditure would balloon before the end of the interim administrator’s term.

“There will be a lot more costs coming out associated with the administration before council is re-elected and I believe the community will be gobsmacked when they see the amount of monies being paid out,” he said.

The latest financial reports from council show Cr Gair was correct about the high cost of the staffing changes. Acting chief financial officer Damien Jenkins told Wednesday’s council meeting unplanned redundancies and terminations had cost the council $893,000.

The cost of redundancies has blown out at Wingecarribee Council.

Interim administrator Viv May clarified the large cost was the “result of exits from the organisation. That relates to contractual obligations and payments, not to entitlements.”

Of the total, $241,000 was spent on the exit of one person while the council was in office. In comparison, $652,000 was spent on the departure of five staff during the administration period.

Many of those who left the council under the administration were highly-placed senior staff such as the acting general manager and chief financial officer. 

Mr May said the staff turnover was “extraordinarily high” at its current rate of 26 per cent. General manager Lisa Misamble said she was aware of the discussion around the high amount of internal vacancies but emphasised the need to contextualise the figures in terms of the “period of great change”.

“For the last few years, the percentage of turnover at Wingecarribee has ranged between 24 and 26 percent per annum, which is high and had an impact on the functioning of the organisation,” she said.

Suspended Wingecarribee Shire Council mayor Duncan Gair. Picture: Wingecarribee Shire Council

Viv May says he is ‘rebuilding’ the council.

Ms Misamble said the council was currently working to manage employee entitlements and liabilities to regulate the cost to ratepayers.

In last month’s council meeting, Mr May addressed the “unfounded rumours that the public iqquiry will cost ratepayers over a million dollars”.

Mr May said the costs and duration of the public inquiry were yet to be confirmed. He told the meeting the direct costs of an inquiry were usually borne by the government, but the government was able to recoup those costs if the inquiry is linked to recurring issues in the council.

In line with his continued goal of transparency, Mr May disclosed the cost of the audits and reviews commissioned to examine the failings of the council. To date, the council has spent $115,022 on seven consultants who were engaged to report on a range of concerns from planning to the bushfire response review.

One of the reviews commissioned by Mr May revealed the now-suspended council had mismanaged ratepayers’ money to the tune of $15.7 million during the term of the previous councillors. By comparison, the report cost $23,940.

“In my view (the commission of reviews) has been ratepayer’s money very well spent,” Mr May said.

Mr May’s announcement follows speculation about the cost of a public inquiry to the community, which has previously been raised by Mr Gair.

He told The Bowral News the cost of the council administration would be “horrendous”.

“I believe the community will be outraged when they see how much this has cost,” he said.

“I think it’s going to come as a real shock when the final cost comes out.”

However, Mr May said the costs incurred so far have allowed the “rebuild of Wingecarribee Shire Council” to begin after the continued dissatisfaction of the community.

“(T)he public inquiry can only add value to that process helping to ensure that the community has a Council that is serving its best interests,” he said.

NSW Local Government Minister Shelley Hancock suspended the councillors on March 12 after years of infighting and turmoil, installing Mr May as an interim administrator shortly after.

Mr May has since started making major changes to the organisation and how it is run.

Ms Miscamble has been asked to provide a report when more details about the inquiry are released.