Council staff will find out whether they still have jobs after councillors decide their fate next Tuesday night.

General manager Brett Stonestreet has been tasked with cutting operational costs at council after staff numbers ballooned to more than 370, including casuals, under his predecessor Peter Brooks.

He will propose several recommendations for an organisational restructure at next week’s council meeting.

Councillors will consider the options behind closed doors.

Staff will then be advised of the results in writing and will have a chance to discuss the changes one-on-one with Mr Stonestreet.

Mr Stonestreet would not confirm the extent of the cuts he would recommend but confirmed he was looking to slash between $800,000 and $900,000 from operational costs, which could include staff wages as well as other resources and services.

“Council is in the advanced stages of a 10-year financial plan, which has highlighted the need to refocus and reshape our services,” Mr Stonestreet said. “That means there will be a redirection of resources.

“I’m not going to start saying there will be ‘x’ staff here, or ‘x’ staff there, it is simply a process of resource reallocation.”

The need to cut back on spending has been no secret between council and the public, with Mr Stonestreet announcing within weeks of taking the general manager position he would initiate a comprehensive review of services.

All departments participated in the review which confirmed cutbacks were needed to ensure council could continue to deliver essential services.

A review of the organisational structure had ensued.

Former mayor John Dal Broi said council had come a long way from having between 160 and 180 staff in the early days of his tenure.

“I was quite concerned when I heard a few months ago that there were more than 400 people on staff –at that rate, in three or four years, council’s income would not be able to cover the extra expenditure,” Mr Dal Broi said.