Mosman's Merger Options

Councils are being asked to submit a proposal by 30 June 2015 outlining how they intend to become Fit for the Future. Under the definition of 'Fit for the Future' councils must show that they have effective services and infrastructure, plus ‘scale and capacity to effectively engage across community, industry and government.’

The tools and templates provided by  ‘Fit For the Future’ do not envisage  a council the size of Mosman (29,000 residents) and it hard to see how any individual council of this size can successfully argue that it is ‘fit for the future’.

So what are the options for Mosman residents.

Option 1. - The Mega Council.

The Independent Local Government Review Panel (ILGRP) recommends a merger of Mosman, North Sydney, Willoughby, Lane Cove,  Hunters Hill and parts of Ryde councils with a projected 2031 population 365,400.  The ILGRP says this group has:

• a close functional interaction and economic/social links between these councils
• the need for integrated planning for major centres, Sydney Harbour foreshores etc
• three of these councils projected to have fewer than 50,000 people in 2031.

This merger would be a significant change to the system of local government in our area.  The council would encompass a number of state electorates and the mayor would be representing more electors than any State Government politician.  The council would have significant  political influence and planning powers.  Its scale would bring service delivery efficiencies.

Local committees with some delegated powers would be needed to ensure communities had a say in local issues.

For those primarily concerned with keeping 'local' in local government this is the worst option. For those looking for maximum service delivery efficiency and political influence in regional planning this is the best option.

Option 2 - Merge with a small neighbouring council.

Mosman's neighbours are Manly and North Sydney Councils. Mosman's Mayor has been reported in the Mosman Daily as saying that the government is encouraging Mosman to merge with North Sydney. In response the Mayor has suggested a merger with Manly would be better.

Graham Sampson, chair of the ILGRP, has pointed out that Mosman is separated from Manly by Middle Harbour and the sensible merger would be with North Sydney. The border between Mosman and North Sydney is at Sporfforth and Macpherson Streets, just a ten minute walk from Spit Junction.

A North Sydney/Mosman merger makes a lot of sense and is discussed further in the tab above.

There has been a historical reluctance in Mosman to work with North Sydney and we have been long aligned with the northern beaches councils.  Perhaps the elephant in the room has always been the possibility of a merger with North Sydney.

For those concerned about keeping 'local' in local government a merger with a neighbour would meet this concern.  There would be some improvement in scale. A merger with North Sydney would give us a united front with the problems on Military rd and rat runs. A merger with Manly would have our communities in conflict over the long term problems of traffic and public transport planning.

Option 3 - Joint Organisations

The NSW Independent Local Government Review Panel’s report Revitalising Local Government, makes it clear that the preferred options for Sydney’s 41 councils is to merge but the report gives council a second option of forming strong Joint Organisations with their neighbours. It’s a route many smaller  Sydney councils might want to take, with some communities opposed to mergers. But it is not yet known how JOs might work and what will be demanded of individual councils.

For JOs to be seen to be any kind of reform they would need to centralise functions like contracting, HR, finance.  They might also need to take over planning approvals.  The chair of the JO would also need to speak on behalf of all the member councils and become a regional leader.

This risks being a  messy form of mega merger  but it  might be necessary if political compromises are required.  There is very little information available at this time about this option.

In December 2014, the Mayor of Mosman expressed support for this option " we will consider joint organisation operations to facilitate sharing of services and regional strategic planning."

Option 4  - Hope it goes away.

Unlike his predecessor, Premier Mike Baird seems committed to council amalgamations.  If the government continues to hold this view and wins the election comfortably in March 2015, council mergers are inevitable.

The risk to Mosman residents is that Mosman Council fails to put in the ground work with North Sydney Council and fails to explore merger options. We will then be caught out at the last moment without an alternative plan to a mega merger.

Ku-ring-gai Council known for its anti amalgamation stance decided in November to hedge its bets.

Their media release says:

Councillors voted 6 to 4 to prepare a submission to the NSW Government demonstrating that Ku-ring-gai is 'fit for the future' without the need for amalgamation. However the Council also voted to open discussions with surrounding councils on voluntary amalgamations.As part of the resolution, the Council voted to engage 'facilitators and other consultants as necessary to enable a report to be brought back to Council by February 2015 with possible configuration options before preparing a detailed business case for consultation with the community.'Mayor Jennifer Anderson said the Council needed to remain flexible in its approach to the Fit for the Future reform package.

The full media release can be read here

It would be prudent for Mosman Council to go the same way.