Welcome to Your Hawkesbury - Your Say

The NSW Government has released notification of a public inquiry in relation to the proposal to amalgamate the local government areas of Hawkesbury City Council and part of The Hills Shire Council.

The inquiry will take the form of three public meetings, two at Castle Hill RSL Club (day and evening option) and one at Hawkesbury Race Club (day option):

• Castle Hill RSL Club - Thursday, 4 Feb 2016 from 1pm to 5pm or from 7pm to 10pm, 77 Castle Street, Castle Hill

• Hawkesbury Race Club - Friday, 5 Feb 2016 from 1pm to 5pm, 1 Racecourse Road, Clarendon.

To attend or speak at the meeting you must register prior to Friday, 29 January online at https://www.councilboundaryreview.nsw.gov.au/proposals/hawkesbury-city-and-the-hills-shire-councils/ or by calling 1300 813 020.

Members of the public can also comment on the NSW Government’s proposal to merge Hawkesbury City Council with part of The Hills Shire Council up until 5pm Sunday, 28 February 2016. Submissions may be made either online atwww.councilboundaryreview.nsw.gov.au/proposals/hawkesbury-city-and-the-hills-shire-councils/ or by mail to GPO Box 5341 SYDNEY NSW 2001.

For further information about the history of this issue see http://yourhawkesbury-yoursay.com.au/getting-council-fit-for-the-future .

Submissions are now open to make comment on a NSW State Government proposal to merge Hawkesbury City Council with part of The Hills Shire Council.

Today the NSW State Government released details of its merger proposals for councils across the State as part of the Fit for the Future Reform Program. This included a proposal for Hawkesbury City Council and The Hills Shire Council to merge.

Details on the State Government’s proposal for the merger of Hawkesbury and The Hills can be accessed online at www.councilboundaryreview.nsw.gov.au(External link).

The Chief Executive of the Office of Local Government will now appoint a delegate to undertake a Public Inquiry (a public meeting for the community), call for written submissions and prepare a report against the criteria in the Local Government Act 1993. This process is to further determine the feasibility of the proposal and to provide the community with their chance to have their say on the proposal. It is proposed this will be undertaken in time for a possible March 2017 Local Government election.

Mayor of Hawkesbury, Councillor Kim Ford said, “At this point, business will remain as normal for Council and services will continue to be provided to the Hawkesbury community.”

“I call for all the residents of the Hawkesbury to actively participate in any process seeking community feedback and will endeavour to ensure the community is informed as new information is released on this process,” he added.

Council’s Your Hawkesbury Your Site will be regularly updated with information on the Fit For the Future and Merger process. Visit the document library for current documents.

See the Getting Council Fit for the Future page on this site.

Keep the Hawkesbury unique - say NO to a Hills Merger

Take our survey and tell us your views.

Tell the State Government we say NO by contacting:

• State Member for Hawkesbury, The Hon. Dominic Perrottet MP, email hawkesbury@parliament.nsw.gov.au, phone (02) 9634 7474, mail to PO Box 298, CASTLE HILL NSW 1765 or in person 287C Old Northern Road, CASTLE HILL NSW 2154

• Minister for Local Government, The Hon Paul Toole MP, email office@toole.minister.nsw.gov.au, phone (02) 8574 7000, mail GPO Box 5341
  SYDNEY NSW 2001

• Premier of New South Wales, The Hon. Mike Baird MP email https://www.nsw.gov.au/your-government/contact-premier-new-south-wales phone (02) 9976 2773, mail GPO Box 5341 SYDNEY NSW 2001

A merger between the Hawkesbury City Council and The Hills Shire Council would be totally unworkable and impractical said the Mayor of Hawkesbury, Councillor Kim Ford. This was in response to The Hills Council’s resolution to approach the State Government to indicate their willingness to merge with Hawkesbury City Council.

The report, which was full of misleading statistics and incorrect assumptions, was presented to The Hills Council at its Ordinary Meeting on Tuesday, 10 November 2015.

“The content of the report makes it abundantly clear that The Hills have no understanding of the needs and values of the Hawkesbury community or of the services and facilities that our Council provides.” the Mayor said.

“A merger is not the answer. Council has formed a strategic alliance with Penrith City Council and Blue Mountains City Council. This will allow us to achieve the efficiencies that local government reform is seeking while maintaining our autonomy and identity.

“The Hills propose an unworkable and impractical north-west super council which would stretch westward from North Parramatta to Bilpin covering a massive area of nearly 3,200 square kilometres. Our total area would be represented by, at best, three councillors out of 12 representatives.

“The Hills aggressive plan signals a potentially disastrous takeover for the residents of the Hawkesbury, who will be largely neglected due this under representation.

“I am deeply concerned that The Hills report indicates that a different rating structure may need to be applied to any Hawkesbury area of a merger. This may mean that Hawkesbury residents end up paying much more than current Hills residents,” said Councillor Ford.

A review of local government, which the State Government accepted, has indicated the preferred option for Hawkesbury City Council was no change and the latest assessment by IPART has indicated that Hawkesbury has the scale and the capacity to remain a stand-alone council.

“There is no evidence to suggest that a merger with The Hills has significant public support or a positive impact for the Hawkesbury.” he said.

“It seems The Hills primary focus in supporting the merger is the incentive of a cash grab from the State Government, most of which would be spent in merger costs. When neither the Hills nor the Hawkesbury have been asked by the State Government to consider a merger, this certainly seems like a hostile takeover bid.”

The Hills report also criticised the Hawkesbury’s financial position.

“This is coming from a Council that has a history of being financially mismanaged,” Councillor Ford said.

“Hawkesbury City Council acknowledges that it faces financial challenges due to its small rate base. A solid Fit for the Future plan, including 20 strategies, will be adjusted so that Council will meet all benchmarks for a metropolitan Council, even though we are a largely rural area.”

Hawkesbury City Council’s external auditor from PricewaterhouseCoopers addressed Council’s meeting last Tuesday, 10 November giving a strong assurance to the community that operating results are on track and improving.

The auditor advised that Hawkesbury City Council was in a good financial position, definitely sustainable and was certainly able to stand on its own, as it has for many years.

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.

At a meeting held 2 November, 2015 Councillors of Hawkesbury City Council confirmed their support to stand united for Hawkesbury City Council to continue to remain as a stand-alone local government entity.

This stance is backed up by previous reports stating stand alone status as the appropriate outcome, the acknowledgement that Council has scale and capacity, and the commitment to meet all Fit for The Future sustainability criteria.

Councillors will continue to act to strengthen Council's position and act in the best interests of the future of the Hawkesbury and its residents.

The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) published its Assessment of Fit for the Future Proposals of all councils in New South Wales on Wednesday, 20 October.

Disappointingly, the IPART report deems Hawkesbury City Council as “Not Fit”. This appears to be due to Council not meeting the required Operating Performance Ratio (1 of the 7 criteria) by 2019/2020. Council’s submission indicated that this ratio would be met by 2021.

The Independent Local Government Review Panel’s (ILGRP’s) preferred option for Council was No Change to its boundaries and Council prepared its proposal, which included 20 strategies to ensure its financial sustainability, based on this.

Council will determine its response to the Assessment at its meeting to be held next Tuesday, 27 October.

In the meantime residents can make their views heard by contacting the State Member for Hawkesbury.

Hawkesbury Horizon Initiative Project Team has had a very busy six months. We have been talking to lots of different stakeholders and gathering Big Ideas about what people see is on the horizon for the Hawkesbury. Our recently prepared third newsletter talks about how we gathered 350 Big Ideas from the community, the technical investigations the team are currently doing and what the next steps are. see the Hawkesbury Horizon Initiative Project to access the newsletter and much more information.