How much do Tasmanian councils spend on consultants?

 How much do Tasmanian councils spend on consultants?  .... Isobel Cootes 

RTI: The expenditure of Northern councils in Tasmania on consultants. Northern Tasmanian councils have spent more than $9.1 million on consultants in the past five financial years. Consultants are used by councils to: 

• complete work when they do not have the expertise on staff,;
• do not have the required resource capacity; or 
• where a level of independence is required for a particular service;
• such as an assessment of development applications lodged by the council itself. 

The Examiner used Right to Information requests to find out what each council was spending on consultants and on what. 

Northern Midlands Council  ............................ The Northern Midlands Council spent the most, with a total of $3,405,266 on consultants from 2016 to 2020.  ............................ Two Right to Information requests were lodged after the first did not break down the information into each financial year. ............................ It did provide the number of consultants used in the past five financial years, at 19 consultants. I........................... The second RTI, asking for clarification on the financial years, the financial year costs and a break down of the costs, was refused by the council. ............................ The reason given for the refusal by the council's corporate services manager Maree Bricknell was it would "substantially" and "unreasonably" divert council resources from other important work. ........................... However, its annual reports each year said it spent:  In 2016: $722,916 In 2017: $666,222 In 2018: $578,219 In 2019: $638,587 In 2020: $799,282 

City of Launceston council ... The City of Launceston council has spent $2,743,946 on consultants in the past five financial years. It spent: In 2015-16: $484,051 In 2016-17: $496,813 In 2017-18: $768,316 In 2018-19: $315,066 In 2019-20: $679,700 The information was released at the council's March 11 meeting after The Examiner had asked repeatedly for the information.  ............................ The council's chief executive officer Michael Stretton said it developed the consultancy register due to increasing public interest.  ............................ "The council has decided to report the consultancy register to the public in the interests of achieving greater transparency and clarity in respect to the level of expenditure on consultants each year," he said. ............................ "The register identified that the council spent between 0.28 per cent and 0.71 per cent of its total annual expenditure on consultancies in the last five years."

Break O'Day Council............................The Break O'Day Council has spent $1,020,237 on consultants in the past five financial years. Its expenditure on external consultants has reduced over the period, with its highest expenditure on planning consultants at $356,953. ............................ Another big expenditure was the cost of engineers at $142,553 to undertake specialist work including monitoring and inspecting road and bridge infrastructure and modelling for specific projects. ............................ It spent: In 2015-16: $235,151 In 2016-17: $298,326 In 2017-18: $182,484 In 2018-19: $129,091 In 2019-20: $175,185 ............................A council spokesperson said the expenditure was due to undertaking projects related to infrastructure, ranging from roads to building the municipality's mountain bike trail network. ............................ They said tourism and community engagement also led to external help............................. "We deliver these projects to a high standard and do not always have the in-house expertise or manpower available to enable delivery within the expected timeframes, hence the reason external engagement of resources is required," the spokesperson said............................. "Council has seen a huge increase in development applications received in recent years and due to our location does struggle to recruit suitably qualified staff to meet the demand and [in] particular dealing with peaks and troughs in demand."  

George Town Council .....The George Town Council has spent $537,520.13 on consultants in the past five financial years.  ............................ The majority of costs occurred due to recruitment, engineering inspections, reports and strategies for the municipality.  ............................ It spent: In 2015-16: $55,035.04 In 2016-17: $98,296.30 In 2017-18: $103,232.45 In 2018-19: $90,690.61 In 2019-20: $190,265.73 

Flinders Council... Flinders Council has spent $401,260.99 on consultants in the past five financial years............................. The majority of funds were spent on plans and reports for the Flinders Island Airport, the municipality's planning scheme, waste management, flooding reports and other reviews. ............................ A council spokesperson said all of the expenditure was due to not having the expertise needed at the council. ............................ It spent: In 2015-16: $68,527,32 In 2016-17: $103,148.14 In 2017-18: $89,250.51 In 2018-19: $129,695.25 In 2019-20: $10,639.77  

Meander Valley Council ... The Meander Valley Council spent $380,771.04 on consultants in the past five financial years. ............................ The majority of costs occurred due to plans, valuations, reports/studies, zoning and strategies for the municipality. ............................ It spent: In 2015-16: $67,438.09 In 2016-17: $70,647 In 2017-18: $72,951.58 In 2018-19: $95,487.39 In 2019-20: $74,276.98 

West Tamar Council ...The West Tamar Council spent $243,097.18 on consultants in the past five financial years............................. Over the period it used 18 consultants, with the majority of costs associated with the Beauty Point Foreshore Project, planning, reviews of structure plans, landslide reports and energy consumption reductions. ...............It spent: In 2015-16: $34,300 In 2016-17: $27,790 In 2017-18: $30,531.15 In 2018-19: $123,944.03 In 2019-20: $26,532 

Dorset Council .... The Dorset Council spent $285,862.53 on consultants in the past five financial years. Isobel CootesIsobel Cootes ............................ The council's corporate service director John Marik said the large increase in 2017-18 was due to a municipal road condition assessment and revaluation conducted every five years............................. He said the council was extremely cost conscious and until COVID-19 had consistently run an adjusted underlying surplus, on average, of $1.94 million.  ............................ "For a small council that type of result is unheard of within Tasmanian councils, and likely within councils nationally," he said. ............................ "Part of this is ensuring council maximises inhouse knowledge and very sporadically utilises consultants only where there are gaps in council knowledge."  ............................ It spent: In 2015-16: $50,189.27 In 2016-17: $35,710 In 2017/18: $131,942.70 In 2018-19: $28,471.70 In 2019-20: $39,548.85 

Glamorgan Spring Bay ... Council The Glamorgan Spring Bay Council has spent $82,713.83 on consultants in the past five financial years. ............................ The majority of funding went towards planning, engineering reports, design work and field assessments. I ............................ It spent: In 2015-16: $37,513.68 In 2016-17: $1072.73 In 2017-18: $1750 In 2018-19: $500 In 2019-20: $31,378.82