While staff numbers and wages for council communications departments across the country have on average doubled, the number of PR staff at the country's biggest council is down from five years ago.
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The number of public relations staff at Auckland Council dropped from 104 in 2016/17, to 79 this year.
Figures collected by RNZ from councils across the country in September showed staff numbers and wages for communications departments with other councils had doubled.
Auckland Council did not reflect the same pattern, however. Where other councils had added to their PR departments, Auckland Council reported a decline. In 2014/15, 93 people worked in the PR team, which spiked in 2016/17 before then going back down.
In terms of wages, Auckland Council also stood out, with the average salary staying around the same. In 2018/19 the average income was just over $97,000.
The budget for the communications team also had remained fairly consistent across the time period. A budget of just over $10 million in 2013/14 had increased to just under $12m in 2018/19.