General manager role removed and RIC set to be folded into council as rising costs bite
A GENERAL manager position is among vacant jobs removed by Redland City Council as it confronts mounting cost pressures and a fight to keep essential services running.
In her message in Council’s 2025-26 annual report, chief executive Louise Rusan said “big and difficult choices” had been made to secure the organisation’s financial future.
Those decisions included removing several unfilled positions from the structure, including a General Manager role, realigning teams and bringing the Redland Investment Corporation back into Council.
Ms Rusan said the RIC move was designed to improve strategic alignment, speed up project delivery and cut overheads.
The CEO said Council had also strengthened its governance, audit, risk and integrity functions, while increasing staff resources in its City Water team.
The report comes amid continuing scrutiny of Council spending, rates rises and the cost of delivering services across the mainland and Southern Moreton Bay Islands.
Ms Rusan said Redlands Coast had not escaped the impact of higher living costs, supply-chain disruptions and escalating material, fuel and construction prices.
“Simply put, it costs more than ever to deliver the same level of service,” she said.
Council generated $507 million in revenue during 2025-26, delivered $97 million in capital works and spent $456 million on services, programs, facilities and infrastructure — up $27 million, or 6 per cent, on the previous year.
The increase was driven by higher material and service costs, employee expenses and asset depreciation.
Depreciation alone now accounts for more than 20 per cent of Council’s annual spending, according to the report.
Council also received $27 million in State and Federal grants and subsidies during the year.
Ms Rusan said Council was responsible for more than 468,000 public assets valued at $3.6 billion, including roads, water and wastewater infrastructure, parks, playgrounds, sports fields and conservation land.
The report highlights the scale of the operation, with Council maintaining about 1200 kilometres of roads, supplying drinking water to 73,601 properties and operating wastewater networks servicing about 59,000 properties.
It also collected more than 3.6 million general waste bins, 1.6 million recycling bins and 700,000 green waste bins during the year.
Council managed almost 120,000 tonnes of waste and its eight recycling and waste centres recorded more than half a million customer visits.
The CEO’s message did not reveal how many vacant jobs were removed, the savings expected from the cuts or which General Manager position had been abolished.
Ms Rusan said Council had maintained service standards while pursuing efficiencies, praising staff for continuing to deliver services during a period of sustained financial pressure.
