Cost of local government reform
WALGA has submitted that $65m to $100m will be required to implement metropolitan reform based on amalgamation costs in Queensland at $200m, or just over $7m per new Council, in 2008; and historical evidence of mergers in WA.
Minister Simpson is offering much less than that over the next 3 years. Remember this reform has a time line of being completed by 30 June 2015.
At a meeting hosted by the WA Local Government Association on Monday, Metropolitan Mayors and Presidents rejected the State Budget funding package of $5 million per year for three years and access to $45m in low interest loans.
If ratepayers do not wish to foot the bill for reform, who will? Can Minister Simpson enforce this timeline without adequate funding?
We’ll see.
The full implementation timeline is here: http://metroreform.dlg.wa.gov.au/Page.aspx?PID=ImplementationTimeline
