A breakdown of severance payments in the 2009-10 annual report shows the council made five payments during the financial year ending June 30.
The largest was of $41,800 to one staff member, while payments of $26,704, two of $16,883 and one of $7200 were also made to four other staff.
The council employed 687 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff, and its severance bill was well down on the previous year's figures, when four staff together received just over $200,000 - including one payment of more than $70,000 - during the 2008-09 financial year.
Other details about the past year's payments were not available yesterday, but council chief executive Jim Harland said they were due to "normal restructuring and business improvement changes" within the council.
"It happens in a big organisation that there will be severance payments from time to time.
"Depending on the nature of the restructuring, the change and the size of the position the person holds, you can have a greater severance payment in some years or a lower one in others."
Council human resources manager Bruce Miller said the severance payments were spread across the council.
The $41,800 payment was to a "reasonably senior specialist", while others were more "run-of-the-mill restructuring", including the $7200 payment made to a long-serving casual employee, he said.
The council's figures compared favourably with the Wellington City Council, which shed 25 of its nearly 1600 FTE staff in the 2009-10 year, with payments totalling $328,458 in 2009-10, according to its annual report.
That was an increase from the previous 2008-09 financial year, when 15 payments totalling $160,371 were made.
The Invercargill City Council - which employed 291 FTE staff - made three severance payments totalling $93,233 in the 2009-10 year, council finance director Dean Johnston said.
The Otago Regional Council made just one severance payment, of $8000, among its 132 FTE staff in 2009-10, its draft annual report showed.
Figures were not available for the Auckland City Council - due to the impending super city transition - and the Christchurch City Council.
