The numbers behind Whanganui District Council's restructure

Whanganui District Council chief executive Kym Fell.

Forty-six jobs have been axed as part of a restructure at the Whanganui District Council over the past two years.

However, the creation of 35 new roles means there are only 11 fewer positions and just four fewer equivalent fulltime staff.

Since his arrival in early 2016, chief executive Kym Fell said a focus of the "unprecedented change" at the council had been on "building capability within the organisation".

"We have removed a large amount of hierarchy and have made a concerted effort to empower staff to make good decisions without the need to escalate," he told the Chronicle.

Mr Fell said not all of the 46 people who lost their position had left the council as some had taken up new positions.

The council had 229 equivalent fulltime staff as at June 30, down from 233 at the same time in 2015.

The budgeted $15.909 million for wages and salaries this year is down from $16.041 million the previous year and $200,000 less than what was projected in council's 10-year plan.

But the restructure has come at some cost.

Nine employees over two years have received a combined redundancy of just over $120,000 and council has spent just under $128,000 recruiting new staff.

Mr Fell said the council was forecast to save $1.6 million in labour costs over three years.

Some of the new jobs at the council have come from it bringing activities such as New Zealand Glassworks and Cooks Gardens Function Centre in-house.

"[It] means we have achieved savings within our salary budget because we are not paying contractors to outsource these activities," Mr Fell said.

He pointed to the appointment of legal counsel Rob Goldsbury which had "significantly reduced our reliance on external legal advice to the tune of around $250,000".