He cited commercial sensitivity and said he would not reveal the fixed cost of running the council's intern programme, but said if ''1.5'' interns a year were at the council, the programme would break even.
''The risk is essentially negligible because the cost is so low in relation to the calculable benefit,'' Mr Power said.
In its first year, the interns programme had already resulted in 17 contracts:
two interns had completed
their terms, the council employed eight voluntary interns at present, and seven were scheduled to arrive.
Intern applications were received ''regularly and appointments made dependent on merit and matched to available needs''.
Some interns had been assigned to the council-controlled Tourism Waitaki.
One intern was scheduled to be assigned to the Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust.
The council's website shows opportunities at the council, Tourism Waitaki, the Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust, the Oamaru Opera House, North Otago Museum and the Waitaki Community Gardens Trust.
Mr Power said council staff and executive management team had benefited from ''having a cadre of bright young multilingual people'' around.
''After you have a programme in place like this for a year or two, it's very difficult to imagine not having it,'' he said.
