Home Property Australia Hold the line on council amalgamations

Hold the line on council amalgamations

  • February 07, 2017

Hold the line on council amalgamationsThe case for council amalgamation remains compelling and unravelling local government reform will damage communities, business and industry across New South Wales, says the Property Council’s executive director Jane Fitzgerald.Reports emerged last week that NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is set to scrap plans to amalgamate 29 councils currently fighting their mergers in court. Berejiklian has said “there is no change in policy at this stage but I am obviously listening to views on the issue”.Since the former Baird Government announced its decision to disband 42 councils and establish 19 new ones, 20 new councils have been created. The NSW Government estimates that council mergers will save $2 billion over the next two decades.The Property Council has been a long-term supporter of the local government reform agenda, Fitzgerald says, which is “already creating stronger, larger councils that are financially sustainable, more professional and capable of better strategic thinking to meet the challenges of a growing population needing jobs, infrastructure and local services.”Better outcomes are already being delivered – costs are being cut, services are better and challenges are being met. To undo this now is to fly in the face of common sense.”Richard Colley, the newly-appointed administrator of Sydney’s largest council, the City of Canterbury Bankstown, has publicly said that the council had made $3 million in savings in the first six months since amalgamation. The council will save another $6 million this year by negotiating new contracts and cutting red tape, he said.Fitzgerald says the case for council amalgamations is compelling, and can provide greater financial strength, increased purchasing power and lower administrative costs, as well as better customer service, quicker processing times and more effective infrastructure delivery.Larger councils have greater ability to negotiate, recruit talented professionals and deal with the “complex issues confronting local government today”, she says.