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The Auckland City Council has budgeted a record amount for consultants this year, despite mayor John Banks' election promise to cut financial waste.
Banks last week criticised the "out of control" spending of predecessor Dick Hubbard's council, which paid consultants $91m during its three-year term as rates rose by up to a third.
But papers released under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, show $45 million is earmarked for "external experts" and "specialist advisers" in the 2008/09 financial year - on top of $157m for council salaries and wages.
The documents also show there has never been an independent cost-benefit analysis of work contracted out by the council and there is no audit process to check for links between council employees and contractors.
Banks played down the $45m figure, arguing it was budgeted only.
"One thing is for sure, I won't be standing on the street throwing money at lawyers or engineers in their flash cars," said Banks. "This council will spend much less on consultants than the previous administration. That was out of control."
Banks told the Herald on Sunday this week he had ordered a "root and branch" inquiry into consultants hired by the council.
The finance and strategy committee in February asked chief executive David Rankin to continue giving preference to using staff resources rather than consultants wherever practical.
Rankin has tabled a report to Wednesday's meeting of the same committee recommending spending less on consultants for governance, funding, public policy and financial analysis. Two further reviews of the money spent last year on consultant fees and contract management have also been ordered.
Committee chairman Doug Armstrong said hiring consultants with specialist knowledge and skills was "entirely sensible", instead of appointing fulltime staff who could be often be under-utilised.
But he agreed specific projects needed to be audited carefully so ratepayers could be assured the money was well spent.
"The new council has been in for six months. We are going down the well to look at consultants but this isn't something we can wave a magic wand over," Armstrong said.
"We want value for money."
In such a large organisation - the council has a capital works programme of $400m this year - Banks said it is inevitable that work needed to be outsourced but the tender process needs to be more competitive.
"The problem we have at Auckland City is we don't have the right levels of accountability around the use of consultants," said Banks.
"Do we get value for money, is the work really necessary and is every dollar held accountable? There needs to be much more accountability and much better value for money."
Last year it was revealed that accountancy firm Deloittes was paid $5m for 40 consultants to overhaul the council's regulatory arm, part of a total bill of $18m.
At the time, David Hay, leader of the right-wing Citizens and Ratepayers bloc, said it was beyond comprehension to have so many consultants for the project.
"Deloittes must be rubbing their hands with glee," he said.
Since last year's election, giant accountancy firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers has been paid $60,000 for advice over the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Auckland.
A further $8.4m is spent on outside lawyers each year and wages for temporary staff hired through Drake Recruitment topped $10m in each of the past three years.
Nationally, local body wage bills have soared by more than 50 per cent in the past five years, with an inevitable impact on rates.
The inquiry into ballooning consultant fees comes on top of revelations that the council employs 53 staff in communications or marketing roles.
Papers obtained by the Herald on Sunday reveal the department had only 23 staff four years ago.
The department costs ratepayers almost $4m in wages or salaries, but that figure does not include PR consultants - the council could not pinpoint how much it spent on external advice.
A $15,000 independent report found the council could obtain better value for the $12m it spends each year on the public relations department, recommending that salary and contractor rates should be reviewed to ensure they are "in line with the outside world".
