The heavy cost of roads upkeep and improvements should be quarantined from other council activities to present a fair picture of a council’s financial viability, the mayor Cr Conrad Bolton said today.
The NSW government has initiated a requirement that local councils must show that they can operate successfully in the future.
The Independent Local Government Review Panel’s ‘Fit for the Future’ (FFF) reforms of local government road map is designed to identify which councils are likely to be viable.
Mergers and amalgamations and other measures may follow for some.
But a merger or amalgamation is ‘not on the radar’ for Narrabri Shire Council the mayor Cr Bolton confirmed.
There is no Panel recommendation for a Narrabri merger.
Narrabri Shire is a functioning entity, the right size and capacity to meet the Fit for the Future criteria.
However, like all other councils in the state, Narrabri has to lodge a Fit for the Future analysis by June next year.
The Council must prepare a self-assessment by the end of December using the FFF criteria.
A Fit For the Future council is defined as ‘one that has the scale and capacity to engage effectively across the community, industry and government, is sustainable, effectively managing infrastructure and service delivery, and is efficient.’
In a report to today’s council meeting, the general manager Diane Hood, noted that some measures may need to be taken to meet the Fit for the Future criteria, perhaps including a rate variation, a review of council fees and charges and capital expenditure, efficiency gains and eliminating or reducing loss making council services.
Cr Bolton commented to The Courier that the high cost of roadworks which faced country councils, and not necessarily metropolitan councils whose roads obligations were mostly maintenance, distorted the financial picture.
“My view is that the state government has to realise that for the rural shires, not so much for metropolitan councils, the roads component is a major issue.
“I think a good way to approach it is to take the council delivery of services separately, and get that to a functional state.
“Then the roads issue needs to be addressed as a different matter.”
All shires across NSW were seriously under funded for roadworks, Cr Bolton said.
“If you put the two together, roads and services, you end up with a muddy pond.
“In my view, you have to take the roads component out of the shire deliberations, even thought they are critical, to be able to focus on the other issues which need adjustment.”
A different approach to road funding is needed, Cr Bolton suggested.
Narrabri shire roads were depreciating at a rate of $6.8 million per year which the council couldn’t cover, the mayor said.
“For Narrabri Shire to be able to cope with that we would have to increase our rates by about 70 percent - and that isn’t going to happen in any shire.”
“I think a two stage look is needed - roads and delivery of council services, separately.”