CABONNE’S rates could rise by as much as 350 per cent, according to figures presented at yesterday’s public hearing into council amalgamations at Molong RSL Club.
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Cabonne Council general manager Andrew Hopkins presented preliminary figures from consultant Morrison Lowe in the event Orange, Cabonne and Blayney councils merged, saying once the three-year rate freeze ended and rate equalisation began, average residential rates in the former Cabonne shire could rise by 74 per cent, while business rates could multiply three-and-a-half times and farmland rates would remain unchanged.
By comparison, Orange’s residential rates could fall by 13 per cent and its business rates by 16 per cent, while farmland rates could rise by 46 per cent.
Mr Hopkins confirmed after the meeting the figures had been compiled assuming rate pegging would restrict the merged entity’s overall rates income.
During the presentation, he questioned KPMG’s figures on projected savings through mass procurement and contracts because it had not taken Cabonne’s involvement with the Wellington Blayney Cabonne Alliance and Centroc into account.
“A significant portion of the benefits of procurement consolidation are already being realised,” he said.
He also questioned potential savings through staff salaries because staff numbers had risen following past council mergers and there was a clause in the Local Government Act requiring the council to pay employees’ travel costs worth $600,000 a year if they were moved further than three kilometres from their original working base.
“The potential cost increase, if realised, could erode a large percentage, if not all of the claimed merger proposal savings and the merger infrastructure grants combined,” he said.
Mr Hopkins said Cabonne’s asset base had been underestimated by $211 million, which could throw out operational costs by $4.5 million annually.
The previous evening at Orange Ex-Services’ Club, Orange City Council general manager Garry Styles also raised concerns about the true size of the councils’ assets because reporting so far had relied on self-assessment.
“Going gangbusters could be very, very difficult depending on how those assumptions fall, so without detailed analysis it’s very difficult to give a firm quantum on what the savings might be,” he said.
“There could well be other benefits that emerge upon a closer look and it could deliver very, very strongly for the community, however there is an element of risk.”
danielle.cetinski@fairfaxmedia.com.au
