ICC scraps Xmas gift spending
THE INVERCARGILL City Council (ICC) will no longer gift Christmas presents to staff after spending more than $30,000 on Christmas gifts since January 2017.
Council’s Gifts and Benefits Policy, adopted by council in July, outlined gifts for all events, including Christmas, birthdays and weddings, should be funded by private donation and ‘‘under no circumstances’’ be paid for using council funds, the policy read.
Figures released to the Otago Daily Times under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act revealed the ICC spent $83,810.55 on various gifts from January 2017 to August 2018.
In both January and December 2017 a total of $33,549.26 was spent on Christmas gifts, which included chocolates and gift vouchers.
Vouchers given as gifts for ‘‘long service’’ accounted for the secondhighest gifts spending, at $18,522.50.
Farewell gifts for staff amounted to $7,902.28, with the average price of each gift around $129.50.
Prices ranged from the cheapest gift of $8.70 to an $885.20 gift given in March this year.
Other gifts included for staff illnesses, bereavements, gratuity and gifts for milestone events.
Some of the heftier purchases
included $4895 for The Life magazine to give to Southern Institute of Technology graduates, and $4020 for medallions for those who journeyed from Cape Reinga to Bluff.
Council chief executive Clare Hadley said since her appointment to the role in February this year, there were ‘‘many policies’’ which had been reviewed.
‘‘With senior managers’ agreement, the giving of gifts for Christmas and long service will not continue.
‘‘There are times when it is appropriate to mark a life event with the giving of flowers, e.g bereavement.
‘‘Council has set itself a savings target within the longterm plan of $500,000 for the 2018/19 year with an additional $500,000 over the following two years,’’ Mrs Hadley said.
‘‘As part of the review of council funding, all areas of council expenditure will be looked at in depth to ensure that expenditure is appropriate.’’