Federation Council ratepayers told review findings will bring pain

Joseph Drew was speaking after addressing public meetings at Corowa and Urana this week, where he flagged some of his 61 draft recommendations.

The University of Newcastle local government economics specialist was hired by Federation Council to conduct an independent review into the sustainability of the shire in the wake of community concerns and an application for a special rates variation because of the need for extra income.

Professor Drew said he had found the difficulties facing the council predated its formation through the merger of Corowa and Urana councils in 2016.

"They're in a serious financial situation," Professor Drew said.

"I've told people, I've shown them the sophisticated mathematical evidence that proves it and referred back to documents, sometimes audited documents from 2009.

"This has been developing over many, many decades, whether we like it or not.

"A problem that develops over many decades, because of many reasons, is going to take many years to be resolved and it's going to have to be resolved through a lot of different ways.

"My big concern after the meetings is that it appears some people may mislead some people in the community to thinking that there is some sort of painless solution to a problem that emerged over many decades and is a very challenging issue.

"I don't want anyone to be misled about it, there is obviously going to be pain involved for everyone."

Professor Drew said a permanent special rate variation, divestment of council services and operations, changes to budgeting and an investigation into federal grants were measures being canvassed.

He said while problems predated the merger, he had "proven" the council union had "increased costs by 22 per cent and that clearly is not going to help any business".

"What turns out is that those economies of scale where all our savings were supposed to be coming from, they don't exist for rural councils in NSW," Professor Drew said.

"You can't Zoom a bulldozer, nor can you Zoom a grader, or staff and if they're moving up from Corowa to Daysdale to do something, they're driving, sitting in a car and you're paying them and any savings that might have existed just went up in exhaust smoke....so scale is a huge problem."

Professor Drew has also been asked to examine wards, something he is not in favour of but he plans to recommend Federation has 12 councillors, up from nine, to address the need for small communities to have representation.

"It's not just about Urana, you remember in the former Urana Shire you had councillors there from Oaklands and Rand and Boree Creek," Professor Drew said.

Such a change would require support of Federation ratepayers through a referendum and is likely to face criticism given the increase in allowances being paid to councillors.

Professor Drew expects to add at least 10 more recommendations to his final report, which will also be adjusted in light of community feedback this week.

The completed version is set to be provided to the council by the end of October with the report and a response forecast to be discussed at a council meeting before the end of the year.

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