Council chief executive Jim Harland yesterday confirmed he aimed to find the savings from within the operating costs of council departments, along with capital spending and associated debt-repayment costs.
If the savings could be identified, they would be included in draft budgets to be considered by councillors and the public during the 2011-12 annual plan hearings early next year.
Mr Harland said the savings were "a tall order", but comments by Mayor Dave Cull and others about the need to find additional savings had encouraged him to be "aggressive".
"It's a pretty big ask, but if you don't ask, then you won't find."
As part of the push for greater efficiency, council managers were asked, in a series of pre-budget interviews with Mr Harland this week, to justify their draft budgets for the 2011-12 financial year.
The interviews are held every year ahead of annual plan deliberations, but some council managers told the Otago Daily Times yesterday there appeared to be a new focus on achieving savings this year.
That included an attempt to freeze, where possible, many areas of expenditure at this year's levels for the following financial year, the managers said.
Council community and recreation services manager Mick Reece - responsible for about $20 million in annual operating costs - said the focus on savings by staff was "pretty genuine".
"It's as high as I've ever known it in the 25 years I've worked with council."
That drive had "perhaps not been as rigorous" at times in the past, but staff were acutely aware of the public mood this year.
"It's not so much that the staff have got real concern - it's that they're very, very conscious of the genuine concern in the community."
Council customer services general manager Grant Strang - responsible for about $14 million in annual operating costs - said every council department was under pressure to hold its costs where possible.
"Every department, every general manager, has the same instructions - it's pretty much a status-quo budget from the previous year."
Small budget increases had been tolerated in previous years, but "more assertive" direction this year meant that would not be repeated, he believed.
The comments come after Mr Cull last month reiterated his desire to find additional savings, and Cr Syd Brown, who chairs the new finance, strategy and development committee, suggested more capital projects would be deferred.
Mr Harland said yesterday the need to reduce high forecast rates rises over the next few years was identified well before last month's local body elections.
Deferring capital projects was something considered every year, "and we will be doing the same again".
"We are going through all the projects to see where are they, what would the implications be if you delayed them, or parts of them, and would it make much difference?"
Every $1 million saved would cut 1% from the rates total, but some savings identified could continue in years to come.
"Ideally, you can try and get a saving and have it ongoing, but in some cases you might not be able to do that.
"That's the ideal that we're looking for."
