Cr Ryan said the council had voted on April 20 for ‘‘an urgent report’’ on the effect of the restructure on the annual budget, taking salaries and redundancy payments into account.

A report in the agenda for Wednesday night’s meeting says three new ‘‘group leaders’’ will each be paid $185,000 a year, with a fourth receiving $180,000, but there is no mention of the $462,000 payout to their predecessors.

‘‘Maybe there will be a late report inserted into the agenda but at this stage we have nothing on the impact of the restructure on the budget, so I have to ask, how urgent is urgent?’’ Cr Ryan said.

‘‘We were told last month the $462,000 would come from the employee entitlement reserve – money set aside for staff long-service leave and holidays – which would be highly unusual, but now the council says this will not be the case.

‘‘The reshuffle might have been justified if there were performance issues but despite the usual frustrations of local government, Cessnock has been improving since the election in 2008.’’

Independent councillor Ian Olsen said Cr Ryan should acknowledge the councillors ‘‘always knew the money was going to have to come from somewhere. It’s short-term pain for long-term gain,’’ Cr Olsen said.

‘‘The council needed to change, and the new general manager, Lea Rosser, was employed to get us going in the right direction, and I think she’s doing that.’’

The Newcastle Herald was unable to contact Ms Rosser or mayor Alison Davey.