OBERON mayor John McMahon says his council’s position has not changed and it is not considering any amalgamation.
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It comes after Member for Bathurst and Minister for Local Government Paul Toole called on NSW councils to consider how they plan to be “fit for the future”.
Mr Toole addressed more than 700 delegates from 150 councils at the Local Government NSW annual conference in Coffs Harbour last week.
Mr Toole said the NSW Government is committed to rebuilding NSW and to achieve this it needs a strong local government sector.
“However, this is not possible when more than one-third of the state’s councils are facing financial problems – losing more than $1 million a day,” he said.
Last month the NSW Government announced record funding for up to $1 billion to entice councils to merge.
Cr McMahon said there was no new information forthcoming at the conference.
“The funding is only made available to the take-over council,” he said.
“Our position has not changed and we are not considering to amalgamate with any council. We are presently in a good position to be a standalone council.
“Oberon Council must have the residents’ support as this will be considered in our submission to the Independent Local Government Review Panel.
“Over the coming months council will be addressing various organisations to gauge their support.
“We are also considering holding Fit for the Future public meetings.”
Of the $1 billion funding, $5.3 million is available to set up Joint Organisations (JO), including the creation of Pilot JOs, with $4 million to help small councils (under 10,000 population) to develop innovative ways of working.
This would benefit Oberon Council as its local government area population is around 5400-5600.
Interested councils will be invited to work with the Office of Local Government (OLG) to develop a new Rural Council model.
At council’s ordinary meeting last week, a recommendation was carried that Oberon Council advise the OLG of its endorsement to be part of the Central West Joint Organisation and that council support Centroc as a Pilot Joint Organisation.