A $54 million cut in its budget for the next four years has
left the Department of Conservation looking to reduce
spending in lower-priority areas and avoid redundancies.
In the Budget this week, Finance Minister Bill English
announced savings of $54 million over four years ($13.4
million) from conservation had been reallocated to areas such
as health, education, and law and order.
Overall funding for Vote Conservation would be $419 million
in 2009-10, down from $423 million in 2008-09.
Conservation Minister Tim Groser said like all government
departments, Doc had to play its role in making every dollar
count in difficult economic times.
"I am satisfied the department will meet its budget targets
without putting key conservation work at risk."
Yesterday, a Doc spokesman said senior managers had factored
this year's Budget figures into their business planning and
were also working to reduce ongoing spending in
lower-priority areas for the next three years.
"The exact details are still being worked through, but the
department is looking at savings across its work programmes."
All steps would be taken to avoid redundancies, as the
priority was to retain staff wherever possible, he said.
Much work had already been done in this area and the savings
for the present year would be identified by the start of the
new financial year.
The department remained committed to achieving its key
conservation outcomes, he said.
- rebecca.fox@odt.co.nz
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