The chief executive made his comment at a Wodonga Ratepayers' Association meeting on Tuesday night when asked whether he had any plans to cutback employees.

"Our staffing figures for council have not grown at all over the last five years," Mr Dixon said.

"If I'm really honest that is a bit of a concern for me because as the city grows and our expectations grow we've got to make sure that we haven't gone too lean.

"We certainly don't want to over resource things but there is a risk that if we're under resourced we don't do a good job."

Mr Dixon said the community needed to consider the quality of services when examining spending.

"If you do want the service, do you want it done in a gold-plated way or are you happy for it to be done at a silver or a bronze level," he said.

Mr Dixon, who has been in his job for five weeks, repeatedly committed to transparency, saying he wanted to be "100 per cent honest" and conceding the council was not infallible.

"I think our council operates with good honest intent, but I'm sure we make some mistakes and I'm sure some of our processes can be improved," he said.

Responding to concerns raised by whistleblower Charlie Mitchell over the rating levels of Wodonga against other Victorian councils, Mr Dixon said 2019 figures placed his city as the 18^th most expensive in the state.

"Right now the cities of Shepparton and Mildura are above us," Mr Dixon said.

Speaking to The Border Mail after Tuesday night's meeting, Mr Dixon questioned Mr Mitchell's actions which have seen him letterbox Wodonga residents urging them to object to the council's budget.

"Why is a former employee of Wodonga Council making such an effort to champion the cause for rates in Wodonga when he doesn't live here," Mr Dixon said.

"He lives in Albury, he doesn't work here, what's his agenda?

"I really don't know what his secret or hidden agenda is."