Budget cuts only a start, says Orders

Dunedin's new chief executive, Paul Orders, arrived promising changes and his first budget shows those promises have been delivered, councillors say.

Mr Orders has presented a bottom line that budgets in past years have not produced - some serious cuts to avoid continuing the rates increases borne by city ratepayers in recent years.

Mr Orders' employer is the council elected by Dunedin residents - a council that has felt the heat of homeowners tired of steep increases and calling for change.

Councillors spoken to this week have applauded the response to their calls for budget cuts, which they say had not been fully answered in the past.

A new pair of eyes to find those cuts, in the form of Mr Orders, has been credited with the change, as has an executive management team and staff who are heading in the same direction.

Two members of that team left last year as part of restructuring by Mr Orders, something that might have focused the attention of senior managers who kept their jobs, one insider said.

While council finance and corporate support general manager Athol Stephens had completed much of the groundwork, it is understood Mr Orders sent managers back to cut the budget further.

Asked about the feedback yesterday, Mr Orders said his experience in public service - he was the corporate director (place) at the Cardiff Council in Wales - was that senior managers "respond well to clear expectations".

Those managers were under "no illusions" about the financial situation, and the wishes of politicians, and had worked well together.

He said he had worked in organisations with a high degree of protectionism, and that was something that had to be challenged.

Asked whether he had encountered difficulty, Mr Orders said "rigorous debate" always occurred in such situations but there was a "healthy willingness" to deal with the issues among the executive management team.

Asked if he was satisfied with the results, he said a "reasonable start" had been made.

"But that's only a start."