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Wollongong City Council has never actively sought to merge with any council and has no intention of doing so in the near future.
But according to acting Wollongong Lord Mayor Chris Connor, the council needs to consider the NSW government’s proposed new joint organisation model, which is similar to the Southern Councils Group.
Cr Connor’s comments follow the government’s announcement last week of its $1billion Fit for the Future package for NSW councils.
It includes $258million to assist councils that decide to merge, consisting of $153million for Sydney councils and $105million for regional councils.
The government is also offering about $5million for councils considering amalgamations and $300,000 seed money to set up joint council organisations.
‘‘We are committed to rebuilding NSW and to achieve this we need a strong local government sector,’’ Premier Mike Baird said.
‘‘However, this is not possible when more than one-third of the state’s councils are facing financial problems – losing more than $1million a day.
‘‘This is a historic package that gives local councils the incentives needed to ensure they are in a position to provide the services and infrastructure their communities need and deserve.’’
Cr Connor joined Shellharbour Mayor Marianne Saliba and Kiama Mayor Brian Petschler in ruling out any forced amalgamations.
‘‘We’ve actively gone out of our way to say we are not considering that but because of the alliances that are needed to secure government funding for infrastructure and major projects and the development of our region, we need to seriously look at what’s happening with the joint organisation model,’’ Cr Connor said.
‘‘Shellharbour, Wollongong, Kiama and Shoalhaven will have to sit around and have a bit of a talk about what we can do in that space and whether we want to continue in that space.’’
Cr Connor said the offer of government money would not sway Wollongong City Council.
‘‘We believe we are doing quite well by ourselves.
‘‘We’ve undertaken a substantial Securing Our Future initiative in the last year in respect to our financial sustainability.
‘‘We are on track. We’ve got the biggest capital spend in the history of the council in respect to renewing a lot of our infrastructure, so we think this is a bit of a distraction at the moment from our main game which is delivering the best service for our community.
‘‘Wollongong is in a great position. I don’t think we are the target of this [package] but I am concerned that we need to seriously see how it unfolds before the next state election.’’