Cootamundra Gundagai Regional Council recommended to demerge says report

The two councils of Cootamundra Shire and Gundagai Shire were forced to amalgamate by the State Government in 2016 and since then tensions between the communities have increased and financials have taken a hit.

The current council area takes in the main towns of Cootamundra and Gundagai and smaller surrounding towns.

This is the second time the council has sought to formally demerge where last year the Commission was divided over the decision and therefore then Minister for Local Government Shelley Hancock decided against the demerger.

However, changes to state government legislation meant the council could resubmit its application and the Local Boundaries Commission released its report last Friday with a three-to-one in favour of demerging.

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Former Gundagai Shire mayor and current Cootamundra-Gundagai councillor Abb McAlister said this showed how much the situation has deteriorated in the past year, let alone the past five years since the merger.

"Cootamundra and Gundagai were two towns who business-wise never had anything to do with each other, but Gundagai people respected Cootamundra and Cootamundra people respected Gundagai," Cr McAlister said.

"But in time, all it's done is put a lot of unrest and animosity between the two towns."

Cr McAlister said financially it's been a disastrous move with $31 million in deficits in the past five years.

He said it wasn't due to mismanagement, but the situation forced upon them. He said other merged councils had met a similar fate.

"We've had to put our rates up just to keep our cash position up and keep us financially sustainable," he said.

"They talk about disasters, floods and fires, this is a big disaster, too - the ratepayers are really bleeding."

Cr McAlister said he, along with the community, had fought the merger from the start and now the decision rests with the Minister for Local Government, Wendy Tuckerman.

"I just plead with the minister to look at it the right way and demerge the council," he said.

Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council mayor Charlie Sheahan said he was pleased the commission had listened to the interests of the people, especially around the social impacts for the community and staff.

A survey completed for the submission had seen 82 per cent of residents in the former Gundagai Shire and 79 per cent from the former Cootamundra Shire support a demerger.

Cr Sheahan said it was a difficult position for the council and the community to be placed in from the start with the forced merger causing competition between the two towns.

"In these recent rounds of mergers there have been proclamations of the government and minister of the time and it's been forced upon a lot of these communities," he said.

"That's not the will of the people and that sets up the problematic operation that you've got to try and mange and it makes it very hard from a councillors point of view and a staffs point of view."

"You're dealing with two communities who then get a perception of competition and if you're providing service or facility to one, the other one then wants it and that provides the challenge in trying to restrain budgets."

Moving forward Cr Sheahan said if approved the two councils will revert back to their original boundaries and he will work with the government during the process.

He said there are several models the NSW Government could follow from demergers in other states or they could develop their own and the council are currently developing a plan to assist the process.

Ms Tuckerman has 28 days from the release of the report (last Friday) to make her decision.

In a statement released last week, Ms Tuckerman said "in line with my statutory obligations, I will now consider the recommendations from the independent commission and respond to the demerger proposal in due course."

She would not answer any further questions put to her by The Land.