SINCE the mid-1990s state governments have talked about local government amalgamations and boundary changes, which were then described as “super councils”.
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At the present time, the state government and the Minister for Local Govern-ment, who appears to be supporting large-scale, perhaps compulsory, council amalgamations, have not provided any real evidence of savings or proposed savings to residents but rather suggesting they’ll support changes to revenue-raising rules in relation to rate pegging when all councils are amalgamated.
That suggests to me the state government believes residents could pay more for services in the long run.
NSW residents need to be aware that, generally, amalgamated councils cost more to manage and run – they don’t get cheaper to run, as has become evident in Victoria after its council amalgamations.
The Minister for Local Government, if he intends to go ahead with forced council amalgamations, really should explain what the financial savings and other benefits will be for residents – fairly quickly.
Allan Brown
Catalina