More than a dozen positions remain unfilled at a southern council one year after consultation began on its major restructure.

Environment Southland disestablished 51 roles and created 56 new ones last year, in a move that impacted multiple departments.

This week, council general manager corporate services Patrick Ng said in response to a LGOIMA request that 13 roles remained vacant.

Four people had left the organisation of their own volition after having their job disestablished, while just one person was unable to secure a new position.

Ng said final payments for those five people totaled $191,809.01, in accordance with collective and individual contracts.

Local Democracy Reporting asked how much was saved — or not — as a result of the restructure, but the council could not provide an answer.

“The restructure was undertaken to focus our resources more effectively, not to achieve financial outcomes; as such, no financial modelling or data were collected to allow us to specifically answer that question,” Ng said.

A three-week consultation for the restructure began on February 13 last year with a final decision announced on April 3.

The changes came into play the following month.

Inroads have been made to fill vacant positions, given there were 48 unfilled roles in June.

At that time, council people and governance general manager Amy Kubrycht said some vacancies would be prioritised while others would be phased in under the long-term plan.

Environment Southland has a total of 227 budgeted roles in its long-term plan, Ng said.

As of Friday, the council had two jobs advertised online.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.