A CROWD of around 100 people gathered at a public meeting in Bombala last Tuesday night, March 17, eager to fight against the amalgamation of the Bombala Council. The only problem was, there was no one to fight! At least not yet.
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As Mayor Bob Stewart and General Manager, Ngaire McCrindle explained on the night, the Bombala Council is now preparing a ‘Fit for the Future’ proposal, and the process must be followed, whether the Council and the community like it or not.
A background of the situation was given at the meeting, explaining that an independent analysis into the sustainability of every council in NSW took place in 2012, and local government was found wanting.
As a result, the ‘Fit for the Future’ process was developed to “lay the foundations for a stronger system of local government” through reforms.
During an independent panel review the Bombala Council was identified as “at risk” chiefly due to a small population and its likelihood to decline.
It was the review panel’s recommendation that Council merge with Cooma-Monaro and Snowy River shires. We also have the option of becoming a Rural Council within a South East Joint Organisation.
Given the information that is at hand so far in the process, Bombala Council announced at the meeting that its preferred position is the latter; to remain as a stand alone Council. And that was certainly the preference of the crowd gathered at the public meeting, as shown by a very strong show of hands.
Nonetheless, the Council still must explore both of the options, and to meet the requirements of the ‘Fit for the Future’ process, business cases have to be developed for both. Partially at the cost of Council.
KPMG has been engaged to complete the business case for a merger between the Bombala, Cooma-Monaro and Snowy River Councils, although Mayor Stewart said a more independent auditor would have been preferred.
Much waits upon the final report from KPMG, with few convinced that the business case will reveal many benefits to the Bombala district should a merger take place. If that proves true, Council will have stronger grounds to pursue the Rural Council model in its proposal.
The completed proposal must be submitted by June, and it seems the only thing the community can do at this stage is offer further ideas for the Council to include in the submission.
Alarmingly, based on the panel’s final report, the Minister will make a decision on the future of the Bombala Council in October 2015 and implementation would begin as early as November this year.
Both Mayor Stewart and GM McCrindle made it clear during their presentations that they are unhappy with the short timeline and the lack of information which Councils have been provided. All also agreed that a small population in rural NSW is not equal to a small economy or being financially unsustainable. Bigger is not necessarily better was the consensus.
Present at the public meeting were both Member for Monaro, John Barilaro of the Nationals, and fellow State candidate for the seat, Country Labor’s Steve Whan.
Mayor Stewart asked for each to give their position on the matter, and both made clear statements during the night that they do not support forced amalgamations.
Nonetheless, Mr Barilaro explained that the NSW Council structure is struggling and the government needs to ensure that councils are serving their communities as efficiently as possible.
“We can’t just stick our heads in the sand,” Mr Barilaro said. “Councils are losing money, and something must be done. The audit is a good thing. In every business and management situation you need to get a snapshot of what’s happening, and that’s what this is.
“However I do believe that the community needs to be at the centre of any decisions, and I believe that the Rural Council model is definitely the one for Bombala.
“Whatever decision the community and Council makes on what it wants to do, I’ll stand behind them and back it 100 per cent.”
Mr Whan likewise offered full support to the community in whichever direction it wanted to head, stating that being entrenched in the ‘Fit for the Future’ process “doesn’t seem an attractive position”.
“But councils must have a serious discussion about what the future is, and in this case, what it would mean to amalgamate,” Mr Whan said.
“On the face of it there doesn’t seem to be many opportunities for savings in the smaller councils, even if there are in the larger ones.
“I would never support forced amalgamations, but council needs to keep working on shared services.”
A huge range of issues were brought up in question time, with both Mr Barilaro and Whan fielding questions concerning rate pegging, the cost of preparing the proposal, whether or not our population is actually in decline, and what exactly happened in the case of the amalgamated Palarang Council.
Importantly, amongst all the talk of rate rises, revenue streams and cost shifting, one concerned local expressed what a great majority were thinking should a merger be thrust upon us; “what about the human cost?”.
The Bombala Council assures the community that further public consultation will take place in coming months.