Waikato Times – Article Link.
Sarah Thomson Pledges to Cut Council Consultancy Costs by a Third.
Hamilton mayoral candidate Sarah Thomson has committed to cutting Hamilton City Council’s consultancy spend by one-third over the next three years.
Thomson, a two-term West Ward councillor and, most recently, chair of the Council’s Strategic Growth and District Plan Committee, says her plan is in line with her key policy to bring more services in-house where it saves residents money.
“In the last financial year, the Council spent $36.8 million on consultant costs, with most of this related to infrastructure projects,” she said.
“That’s an eye watering amount of money. Some of this is unavoidable, such as audit fees. However, I believe doing more work in-house would deliver significant savings.”
“In the Long-Term Plan, councillors agreed to cut the consultancy budget by 10%. Last financial year, the Council went further — spending over $3 million less on consultants than budgeted.”
“I fully support those moves but I believe we can go further.”
”It’s not as simple as just cutting consultancy budgets, however. After many years of outsourcing core work, the council needs to rebuild the right skills and experience within the organisation.”
“That sort of change takes some time — it won’t all happen on day one, but I believe we can make big strides over three years.”
Thomson says there are already good examples of where reducing reliance on consultants has saved money.
“Over four years our planning team has reduced consultancy use by well over 50% and reduced its annual operating costs by one third by building a great team of skilled people who can do the work internally.”
Thomson says saving money isn’t the only benefit to reducing consultant use.
”Building up in-house skills leads to better decision-making, more collaboration across council departments and helps with succession planning.”
Thomson says the Council will still need specialist consultants for some jobs, but everyday core work should be done by full-time staff who understand the Hamilton community.
If elected, Thomson says she will push for a review of consultancy use over the past two years, to identify areas where work can be brought in-house.
“The design of basic transport projects, like a pedestrian crossing or signalised intersection, is a good example of something we should be doing ourselves.”
Thomson will also advocate for the government to change its approach to transport funding so the council can plan for a consistent, long-term pipeline of projects.
“Part of the reason we rely on consultants is that priorities for transport funding constantly shift with every new government and we don’t know how much work we’ll be doing from year to year. That needs to change.”
Over-reliance on consultants is not just a Hamilton issue, Thomson adds.
“For decades, there’s been far too much focus on outsourcing and cutting staff across councils and government. This is a long-standing issue in the wider public sector.”
She points to concerns raised by the Infrastructure Commission about the hollowing out of in-house expertise across local and central government, which can lead to poor value for money in public contracts.
Thomson says that consultancy costs relating to the new water Council Controlled Organisation would not be included in the target, as that entity has its own governance board, but she’d expect the CCO to report to council on its consultant spend and how it’s delivering savings.