An council-wide organisation review has seen the underlying deficit cut from $1,122,500 to $537,769.

In moving the recommendation Councillor Tim Harris said it was the budget the council “had to have”.

“I think as much cutting that is possible has been done out of it and I look forward to the financial benefits that will come to this community over the next couple of years as a result of it,” he said.

A $585,000 turnaround was to be commended, Councillor Doug Burt said.

“I am aware there will be a number of resolutions by the end of this week for a number of staff positions,” he said. 

“This will be an ongoing operation for us and hopefully we can find the other $500,000 odd by the end of this year, so good luck to us all, I commend the work that has been done already but there is still some pain to go through.”

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Cr Heather Barwick also commended the work of recently-appointed general manager Justine Brooks-Bedelph and her team.

“I appreciate everything that our general manager has gone and done with this budget, which is something that in three months others who have sat here a lot longer could not do,” she said.

“It’s a lot easier for anyone to really read this document now than what we have ever had before.

“I rang up today with a couple of questions and I got the answers, and I must say congratulations … for bringing this forward this way.”

The review included analysis of staff roles to determine if their skills could be utilised more widely across the entire organisation or if their roles were necessary.

Other areas of improvement included reduction of materials costs, savings in insurance, street lighting and registrations.

Mayor Bridget Archer said it had been a difficult time for the council. 

“Overall people have conducted themselves professionally and for that I thank them,” she said.