The City of Gosnells in Western Australia is setting itself ambitious targets in terms of improving the efficiency of Council’s operations. In June of this year, the organisation was restructured along commercial lines. This included a new management team brought in to improve efficiency and ensure the provision of best value services.
Some of the recent reforms include a fixed ceiling on staffing numbers and the introduction of a human resources budget. Council’s commercial orientation has been further enhanced by being the first Local Government in Western Australia to appoint a business analyst.
Inhouse commercial skills have been applied to various tasks, such as a thorough analysis in relation to complying with National Competition Policy’s competitive neutrality obligations and the development of a series of business cases. To date, these initiatives have significantly reduced operating costs. Specific savings range between $132,000 and $1 million, with the added benefit of savings in consultancy fees of around $150,000.
The improvement in the City of Gosnells’ business efficiency has led to tangible dividends. These include Council becoming debt free and a very modest rates increase of 0.5 percent, which compares very favourably with the CPI rate of 0.9 percent.
For further information contact Stuart Jardine, telephone (08) 9391 3201.
