Members of Orana Regional Organisation of Councils are optimistic the state government will decide against forced amalgamations as they continue to push their argument.
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The state government has signalled it wants councils to merge in the hope they will be more efficient and sustainable for the future.
However within OROC the councils already share resources and argue it won’t be possible to make them more efficient.
They also say any benefits of amalgamations would be outweighed by the negative effects, especially the large distances that the oversized councils would have to cover.
Narromine mayor Bill McAnally said the focus of the Office of Local Government and Local Government Association should be on getting individual councils viable, not forcing them together.
“I’m confident that we can stand alone, we have had internal audits and done a lot of work so far but there is still more to go.
“There are going to be a lot of councils that are fit but the government wants to reduce the number so there is still the danger that viable councils could be merged.
“I have been trying to talk to [Minister for Local Government] Paul Toole because we don’t want to put all this work in only to be pushed into a merger.”
Councils, including those from OROC, were involved in a meeting with the Office of Local Government recently and that has given them reason to think the government is listening.
As well as remaining as individual councils, the other key aspect for mayors was ensuring councils retain complete control over providing services and managing finances.
“Mergers and amalgamations have no place out here and I think we made that fairly clear,” Warren mayor Rex Wilson said.
“It’s just not practical and for the 11 councils at the meeting, not an option.
“I’m still not wildly optimistic but I am more confident that we might be considered fit for the future and that we might be able to put forward a model for rural councils that would include some non-negotiable aspects such as setting rates, allocating expenses and the other key services.
"If you don’t have those, you might as well not be a council.”
Another area that has been problematic for local councils as they attempt to balance budgets is the issue of cost shifting, where councils have to bear the costs or products and services forced on them by the state or federal government.
“Within OROC there was cost shifting of $13 million, which is a huge burden for us to bear,” he said.
“For a council like Narromine, we have a budget of $20 million. About $4.5 million of that comes from rates, the rest comes from government grants.
“Nothing about that would change if there were amalgamations.’’
