Ku-ring-gai Council has taken the wise step to open discussions with surrounding councils on voluntary amalgamations. They intend to employ facilitators and other consultants as necessary to enable a report to be brought back to Council by February 2015.
Councils have been offered financial and organisational support for merger talks under the NSW Government's Fit for the Future initiative.
Councillors voted 6 to 4 at last weeks council meeting to prepare a submission to the NSW Government demonstrating that Ku-ring-gai is 'fit for the future' without the need for amalgamation. But at the same meeting, the Council also voted to open discussions with surrounding councils on voluntary amalgamations.
Mayor Jennifer Anderson said the Council needed to remain flexible in its approach to the Fit for the Future reform package. "We will consider the implications of all the options on the table, bearing in mind the best interests of our ratepayers,"
Mayor Anderson also flagged one of the potential hot issues that will arise, she said. "Our financial modeling shows that higher rates will follow a merger with a Council that has lesser land values, such as Hornsby."
No doubt this issue will also arise if Mosman and North Sydney councils start to have a dialogue. Every council has different rate formulas that will have be rationalised over time.
It is great to see a traditionally anti merger North Shore council preparing to consider all options in the interests of its residents.
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