“We have worked together with five other inner west councils to generate an independent report about all of our financial standings and a mega council will not be of benefit to Canada Bay residents,” he said.
“The report shows we have very little debt and shows we are financially stable, as well as having plans in place to remain this way. We are certainly not losing the $1 million a day that has been claimed by the State Government about councils across NSW.
“This report is helping us respond to the State Government’s Fit for the Future local government reform package and it shows we meet six of the eight benchmarks that have been set.
“The State Government has put forward its suggestions of what a Fit for the Future council will look like across Sydney as part of its local government reform package. In our case, it is creating a mega Council in the inner west consisting of Canada Bay, Ashfield, Burwood, Leichhardt, Marrickville and Strathfield.
“If this goes ahead, it will be a Council with boundaries from Auburn in the west to Botany Bay in the south and will have 342,000 residents. In Canada Bay, our community could potentially only have one Councillor for over 22,000 residents.”
The City of Canada Bay has entered into discussions with its neighbouring councils of Ashfield, Burwood, Leichhardt and Marrickville with the independent report prepared by Morrison Low on all of the different options for the inner west.
All five inner west councils have allocated funds for this report to assist them in preparing the lengthy documentation required by the State Government as part of Fit for the Future, as well as undertaking community consultation which has also be outlined as mandatory by the State Government.
None of the funds announced by the State Government to help councils amalgamate are going towards the preparation stages with Councils expected to fund this independently.
At the 24 February council meeting, the City of Canada Bay voted to consult with the community and provide information from the Morrison Low Report, with a view to gaining community feedback prior to making a final decision on its stance on Fit for the Future.
“We have always said we are in favour of local government reform but we are against forced amalgamations,” Mayor Tsirekas said.
“The report clearly shows that rates will most certainly rise across Canada Bay - with no guarantee the money will go back into the community. Potentially they will be spread across six Council areas with our community seeing very little of the money, which will mean an impact on the services provided.”
The independent report also shows a significant shortfall in the funds being offered by the State Government to carry out an amalgamation - to the tune of around $60 million.
“The carrot that is being dangled is certainly not enough to cover anywhere near the costs of amalgamating six councils. Morrison Low also concludes that merged councils do not generally lower levels of service and therefore any projected cost savings do not materialise,” Mayor Tsirekas said.
“Our community needs to be aware of all of these issues and needs to start asking some questions of the State Government about why they think a mega Council in the inner west is beneficial.”
We are also encouraging residents to email the City of Canada Bay on this issue at
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