" Political " Decisions !

It is a fact of life that anyone holding an elected position on a council has a better chance of being reelected than a complete stranger making a bid for that position.   Name recognition is a big plus and the fact that political parties endorse candidates in local government is the deciding factor in the decision made by many voters.   Luck also plays a part.  Winning the draw to head the list of contenders usually delivers what is termed " the donkey vote " !

New South Wales is about to undergo a number of enforced council mergers because the economies of many elements of local government are simply balancing on disaster.   There is an ever growing list of high priority work which is unfunded and as council rates are capped by government decree many small councils will eventually be forced into bankruptcy.

Amalgamation by consent has been resisted fiercely.  Economies of scale would apply to the purchase and use of expensive machinery and a trimmed workforce would deliver a better outcome for less money.  The state government undertook a lengthy evaluation of the benefits and finally created new council boundaries by legislation.

There will certainly be continued outrage in many quarters as these mergers are implemented.   Those mayors and councillors affected have until April 15 to apply to be appointed to sit and represent the new council, and obviously the numbers will be far less that the combined group that represented the individual councils that have been merged.

The selection will be entirely in the hands of the minister for local government, Paul Toole - and that introduces a "political " element to the decision making process.   The political persuasion of the government in office will obviously influence decisions where the mayors and councillors have direct political affiliations with other parties.   Even with the best even handedness it is inevitable that there will be claims of political bias.

Those appointed will serve under an administrator until the next local government election, scheduled for March 2017.   No doubt there will be intense media interest as these new councils settle in and make changes and that publicity will cement office holders firmly in the memories of the voting public.   They will gain a huge advantage when March 2017 rolls around.

Choosing representatives to sit on council from the  elected regimes was probably the wisest decision. Simply combining all sitting members would have created an unwieldy group and the main objective was to create a compact council capable of wise decision making and effective use of both machinery and workforce to achieve economy of scale.

If the government plan to create bigger and more efficient councils achieves it's objectives the end result will be obvious to ratepayers.   They will deliver their verdict - at the ballot box !