Five are forced redundancies, three volunteer, four contracts won't be renewed and six vacant jobs won't be filled. Plant will also be sold, the council said.

Most of these are coming from the Technical Services department.

The councillors voted seven to two to signal a new austerity.

Wellington's mayor said councillors poured over the detail and there was plenty of discussion.

"The position of funding wages from your capital budget is not sound business practice.

"Wellington Council is currently funding wages of $700,000 a year from its capital budget,'' Mayor Cr Rod Buhr said.

"The council has a fundamental deficiency between recurrent income and recurrent expenditure.

"Capital grants and contributions have been used to mask the underlying budget deficit position of this council since 2009.

"Council could use smoke and mirrors to make its financial position look better in the short-term, however this fails to address its financial sustainability.''