As a possible merger between Young, Harden and Boorowa looms, local residents put their questions out there and general manager Peter Vlatko answered them.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But answers were limited as tomorrow’s state election meant a potential new government and with it an unknown future.
“I can’t say what’s going to happen after the state election,” Mr Vlatko said.
“What I can say right here and now is we have to act on what they’ve told us.”
The first man to speak when the floor opened to those attending Young’s community forum on Tuesday night, asked how services would be impacted if there were job losses.
He was also concerned about how three shires could be run by one person.
“If you’re working hard now, which I’m sure you are, how is that going to be done all by one person,” the man said to Mr Vlatko.
The man later compared his experience with councils merging in Melbourne to become a “super council” when he bought a flat.
“My rates dropped by 25 per cent, which was great… [a high number of staff lost their jobs] but my garbage collection went from twice a week to once a week, the streets weren’t getting swept every day,” he said.
The man said within four years his rates were higher than what they originally were.
David Noakes of Bribbaree posed several questions, including one on infrastructure, pushing the June 30 deadline back and how he felt the mergers were going to be forced.
Heather Ruhl and Larry Wordsworth, both of Young, also asked a number of questions.
Ms Ruhl was concerned staff would be spending more time in the car than on the job if a merger was to take place.
Mr Vlatko said, “it can’t happen that way. No new council will allow a service of council to be reduced if we merge”.
Mr Wordsworth said he struggled to find where the town’s savings would come from.
With Young meeting five of the seven criteria to be “Fit for the Future”, another man asked how hard it would be for the town to tick the final two boxes.
The final two criteria was asset backlog ratio, which meant council was not spending enough money, and asset maintenance.
Mr Vlatko said it wasn’t as easy as just ticking off the boxes but something they had to strategically approach.
“I believe we are efficient but our finances say in the future we won’t be efficient through the government’s eyes,” he said.
There were also questions about where the centre of business would be if the councils merge, how Harden and Boorowa were feeling, and a discussion on failed amalgamations.