Almost $600,000 of severance payments have been dished out by Southland's councils in the last financial year — an increase of close to 50% on the previous year.

Freshly released annual reports have detailed the payouts for the year ended June 2026, with Environment Southland leading the pack following a $346,037 severance payout to former chief executive Wilma Falconer.

Falconer was the only recipient of a golden handshake at Environment Southland in the last year.

The council recently confirmed Mrs Falconer retired in August 2025 and she received a payout, but declined to comment further on the details.

At Invercargill City Council, $212,100 was paid out across seven payments which ranged in size from $5,025 to $99,059.

Southland District Council paid a total of $41,331 across two payments, while Gore District Council did not make any severance payments to employees in the last year.

The total paid by the region's councils was $599,468, up from $408,372 in the previous financial year —  an almost 50% increase.

Ten payments were made this year compared to 18 last year.

Names of the severance recipients were not included in the councils' annual reports, except for Mrs Falconer’s, due to the Local Government Act 2002 requiring chief executives to be included.

Mrs Falconer finished as chief executive in August 2025 after more than three years in the role, but details of her severance payment only came to light in the council’s most recent annual report.

On top of her six-figure golden handshake, Falconer was paid $54,741 in accrued leave and $7,534 for a fringe benefit tax associated with her work car.

She was also allowed to keep the car, which had a market value of $8,990.

At Dunedin City Council, in Otago, the annual report revealed it made nine severance payments totalling $423,689 across the last year.

Financial results

As for overall financial results in the region, the annual reports showed Environment Southland posted a $9.4 million surplus in the past financial year, followed by Southland District Council with $0.2 million.

Gore District Council posted a $2.5 million deficit, while Invercargill City Council posted an $8.5 million deficit.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.