New Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull this week compared the challenges he and the Dunedin City Council face to walking a tightrope.
That, indeed, outlines the scale of the demands the councillors confront. Somehow, they need to contain operating costs, limit burgeoning debts and still help keep Dunedin progressing.
The previous council had its strengths, and the dedication to the city of the previous mayor Peter Chin is admired and his many skills respected.
But the overriding flaw for the past several years was an inability to say no. An array of projects are going, or due, to go ahead, staff numbers have risen steadily and anticipated rate and debt rises for the future are frightening. It was little surprise that voters in the local authority elections thought some change was needed.
The new council has started promisingly, and the sense of new beginnings will be amplified by the news yesterday of Chief Executive Jim Harland's resignation.
Mr Cull has outlined plans to address council operating costs and has mentioned one or two specific projects that could be delayed.
A shake-up of committees sees a finance, strategy and development committee specifically charged with, among other duties, cutting costs.
Its chairman is the experienced former deputy mayor Syd Brown, who has himself made the right noises about finding efficiencies, "working smarter", and keeping an eye on expenditure.
Richard Thomson is one of the two deputy chairmen, and he brings his experience as a former Otago District Health Board chairman and a current Southern District Health Board member.
In both roles he has had the difficult task of trying to oversee the doing of more with less.
Some may wonder, nevertheless, whether Cr Brown and John Bezett - the other committee deputy chairman - are ready to confront the hard choices. Cr Brown talks of saving money by "working smarter" rather than by reducing staff numbers.
Surely, though, the previous council, chief executive and senior management have already been doing this, again and again. More will be required, and fresh impetus and increased pressure could make a difference.
Substantial operational savings will not be made, however, without fewer staff because staff salaries make up the bulk of operational costs.
Staff consolidation, cuts and attrition will be necessary, and the council will also have to restrict useful but not absolutely essential social and environmental promotional roles if it is to rein in costs. That is the harsh reality.
Any organisation not confronting profit imperatives or strict income limits is in danger of empire building.
The positions of managers, including the chief executive, are naturally bolstered by more staff, more projects, more so-called essential work that needs to be done. It takes strong governance to counteract these tendencies.
It is now the council's role, in conjunction with its employee the chief executive, to not only stop all but the very highest priority work but also to wind back elements of the bureaucracy - and this is a message that should be delivered firmly to Mr Harland's replacement.
The council is going to have to be leaner and, inevitably, some services will be affected. In this, Dunedin is far from alone.
Wellington City Council managers, for example, are being asked to trim spending, with 10% cuts suggested for some departments in the wake of the elections.
Cuts in services appear likely because Wellington's debt is expected to reach $360 million next year. Unfortunately, much smaller Dunedin is facing debt levels supposed to peak at $377 million next year.
Councillors are going to have to resist the blandishments and insistencies not only of staff but also be prepared to resist outcries from all sorts of interest groups as projects are delayed and spending trimmed.
As the annual plan process (in essence the budget) proceeds, the pressure to spend always mounts. How much resolve will councillors have, especially those who for years have had a relatively easy ride?
They will require the judgement of Solomon as they consider priorities to keep the city moving while strangling costs.
The mayor, meanwhile, will find his desire for consensus and bringing the community with him stretched to the limit.
Talk is cheap but action will not be. Everything already in the pipeline has shackled the council and makes its job that much more difficult. Nonetheless, this is the mission that it confronts.
