$182k severance payment made to Gore council staffer

The value of each severance payment for the year ending June 30 2022 were $5,000, $41,678.63, and $182,500 (of which $100,000 was partial reimbursement of legal costs).

The Gore District Council has made a $182k severance payment to a employee.

The Gore District Council has spent a combined $262,000 on staff severance payments over the past two years, including a $182,500 payment to one individual.

The Gore Council’s draft annual report states for the year ending June 30, 2023 it made a severance payment of $33,022 to one employee.

However, it also stated severance payments for the year before had not been disclosed due to a difference in interpretation which has since been clarified.

It has confirmed three employees, totalling $229,178.63, received severance payments for that period.

The value of each of the severance payments were $5,000, $41,678.63, and $182,500 (of which $100,000 was partial reimbursement of legal costs).

When asked about the severance payments a Gore District Council spokesperson said the payments were confidential and the council could not release further details.

The council’s severance bill has coincided with an employment dispute with Rebecca Tayler - the mother of current Gore Mayor Ben Bell.

Tayler was employed as the council’s general manager, of regulatory and community services in October 2020.

Her role was disestablished in 2022 before then being engaged for some short-term project work.

In November Gore District Council CEO Steve Parry confirmed the council itself had incurred $301,403 of legal fees, in relation to the employment dispute with Tayler.

Both Tayler and the Gore District Council have not commented on what the matter was over, or how it was resolved.

Parry and Mayor Bell, Tayler’s son, has had a very public falling out, in terms of their working relationship, since Bell was elected as Gore’s mayor in October last year.

A public sector guide states that common situations where severance payments can be made include the employer being dissatisfied with the employee’s performance, or issues arising in the course of the performance management process.

Other possible reasons included an employee raising a personal grievance about a workplace issue and/or claiming that they have been constructively dismissed or a personality clash between an employee and their manager, or between managers, particularly at a senior level.

The Gore District Council employs 140 part and full-time employees.

In a recent health and safety audit it showed 88% of 40 randomly selected staff indicated they believed the council had effective governance and leadership.

The Gore District Council will discuss the draft annual report at a council meeting today (Tuesday).

The council finished the last financial year with a $2.433m deficit. This compares to a budgeted deficit of $763,000.

Council’s corporate support general manager Lornae Straith said the main driver for the deficit was an unexpected $1.3 million spike in depreciation due to the council's infrastructure assets being revalued last year.

“We had budgeted for a $22 million increase in value. However, the revaluation delivered a $66 million increase.”

While depreciation is traditionally a non-cash transaction, it needs to be shown as expenditure to ensure the Council sets funds aside for asset replacement.

Other drivers of the deficit included an additional $1 million in road maintenance expenditure, personnel costs ($817,000) and increased interest costs ($673,000).

Straith said the last financial year had been extremely challenging in an economic sense.

“We are not immune to some of the same financial pressures people are experiencing at home – high inflation and rising interest rates.”