A LOCAL government expert claims councils facing pressure to merge are being “dudded” by the Baird government’s “Fit for the Future” reform package.
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University of New England professor Brian Dollery said the $1 billion policy is based on the “flawed” presumption that larger councils are more fiscally viable.
The NSW government is dangling a $1 billion carrot above the state’s 152 councils in a bid to entice some of the less sustainable entities to merge with their neighbours.
NSW councils are scrambling to compile detailed proposals to be submitted by July, 2015, on how they plan to be “fit for the future” under the government’s criteria.
But Professor Dollery said he has examined the fiscal performance of about 30 Sydney councils and found no correlation between financial sustainability and population size.
He also maintained that preliminary research showed a “large number” of the councils that underwent mergers in 2004 had “performed worse” than their un-merged counterparts.
“The claim that bigger councils are always more financially sustainable is as silly in country NSW as it is in city NSW,” he said.
“There is no reason why councils of a similar size should perform the same and that’s why, when you look at the evidence, they don’t perform the same.”
Professor Dollery also said the financial incentives on offer for councils to merge were grossly inadequate, if the recent experience in Queensland is any indication.
“If two councils in country NSW merge, they get up to $5 million, but if three councils merge they get $11 million,” he said. “Where on Earth are these figures coming from?”
Liverpool Plains Shire Council and Gunnedah Shire Council representatives met yesterday to sound each other out about what a potential merger might mean for the shires.
“It’s just an amicable meeting to see how we can resource share to make ourselves fit for the future,” Liverpool Plains mayor Andrew Hope said.
“Part of the (Fit for the Future) report that we’ve got to fill in says we have to have spoken to our neighbours and work what we can do to help each other.”
Gunnedah mayor Owen Hasler said although his council was “quite comfortable” of meeting the government’s criteria, it was prudent to talk frankly about mergers while there was money on the table.
“We would rather have serious discussions at this point about a potential merger and the implications than to have it thrust on us down the track,” he said.
