WELLINGTON mayor, Anne Jones, led the charge at the Wellington Boundaries Commission public inquiry, stating the financial modelling provided to the NSW government by accounting firm KPMG was flawed with many inconsistencies.
‘‘(KPMG) used 2013-14 financials to make their assumptions,’’ she said. A merger, according to Cr Jones would be ‘‘catastrophic’’ for her town and should be abandoned.
Cr Jones said Wellington Council employed research experts Morrison and Lowe, which with council prepared the Fit For The Future submission.
She said Wellington Council met all the seven criteria starting from the 2014-15 financial year.
However, the government deemed Wellington had failed the test under the terms of scale and capacity, which she said was not one of the original criteria.
‘‘Council used the reform process as an opportunity to review its operations and identify savings and efficiencies, which ultimately formed council’s improvement plan implemented in February 2015,’’ she said.
‘‘Council should be given the opportunity to continue to implement the improvement plan and its long-term financial plan, which has already resulted in an operating surplus in the 2014-15 financial year.’’
She said a merger with Dubbo would directly impact 40 indoor council positions and the economic effect on the town would be catastrophic.
- Note: The Land’s Dubbo journalist Mark Griggs is a Wellington councillor.