Residents denied access to merger report

The Hills Shire Council continues to press for a takeover of Hawkesbury City Council with a confidential report being placed before Council this Tuesday night, 10 November 2015.

The Mayor of Hawkesbury, Councillor Kim Ford said that The Hills continues to press for a merger despite the fact that Hawkesbury City Council has the scale and capacity to continue as an independent local government body.

“The Hills Shire Council report conveniently neglects to mention that the government has only asked councils to consider merging if they or a neighbouring council were declared unfit due to ‘scale and capacity’” Councillor Ford said.

“The Hills has no right to seek a merger with the Hawkesbury. Neither the Hills nor the Hawkesbury have been asked by the Government to consider a merger.

“A confidential report in a closed council meeting denies both the residents of the Hills and the residents of the Hawkesbury the right to information concerning the future of their local government areas.

“All financial information regarding both Councils operations is publically available, so there is no reason why this report should be considered in a closed Council meeting.

“In the name of transparency, I strongly urge the Mayor of The Hills to make this report public.”

Hawkesbury City Council has satisfied The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal’s criteria to be fit for the future in terms of “scale and capacity” and two of the three financial criteria. The Hills Council was assessed as fit both in terms of “scale and capacity” and in terms of financial criteria.

“Council meets the scale and capacity requirements of the Fit For The Future (FFTF) process. As there is not an appropriate neighbouring council “not fit” due to scale and capacity to consider merging with, Council is not considering a merger,” the Mayor concluded.

Hawkesbury City Council has advised the NSW Government that it now intends to proceed with its FFTF proposal. It will review and amend the implementation of the proposal to achieve the required operating performance ratio, the only criteria that it previously did not meet. This will make Hawkesbury City Council Fit For The Future.

“We understand that residents are rightfully concerned about the possibility of losing local representation,” Councillor Ford added.

Residents can have their say by contacting their local State Member for Hawkesbury, The Hon. Dominic Perrottet MP, email hawkesbury@parliament.nsw.gov.au, phone (02) 9634 7474, mail or in person 287C Old Northern Road, Castle Hill NSW 2154 and the Minister for Local Government, The Hon Paul Toole MP, email office@toole.minister.nsw.gov.au, phone (02) 8574 7000, mail or in person Level 17 NE
52 Martin Place, Sydney NSW 2000.