Two external appointees who are helping Invercargill City Council to deal with its governance issues will cost ratepayers about half of the price originally budgeted.
Jeff Grant and Lindsay McKenzie were appointed last year to review and support elected members and staff through the implementation of an action plan to address governance issues.
The council originally budgeted $130,000 to cover their fees until June 2021 but that figure was now expected to be $67,000.
As of May the actual fees had reached $55,820.
In January, Mr Grant told the Otago Daily Times they would be paid $150 an hour with a cap of $900 a day and until last month they had billed a total of 400 hours, or 50 full days of work.
A report from Mr Grant with an update of their work will be presented at a council meeting tomorrow.
In the document he reports that improvements have been made in some areas, including the council charter and media coverage.
The council had also hired a new strategic communications manager and was in the process of hiring an assistant for the mayor, he said.
Mr Grant said the six-month review which council undertook to check its progress would now be presented in August.
"We had previously indicated that the results would be available in late July. However, due to the timing of the survey results, the subsequent report from both will now be available in August for Risk and Assurance and Council to consider," he said.
The report, compiled by former Dunedin city councillor Richard Thomson, will deal with issues such as a leadership void, Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt’s struggle to fulfil significant aspects of his job, the relationship between mayor and chief executive Clare Hadley and the appointment of deputy mayor Nobby Clark.
