A move to demerge Hilltops Council via a Council motion has reared its head again with former Mayor Brian Ingram proposing the matter at last night’s meeting.
The move comes after a 233-page document surfaced which details all of the background information which was used to convince Councillors of the benefits of merging, something that many of the current Councillors have not seen until the last few days.
The predictions have since proved hollow and highlight how far off the consultancy firm was when they provided data to support the merger.
The document has started to make its way through the community and although heavy reading in parts, it shows projected surpluses and deficits, none of which have rung true and have put the current Councillors in a precarious position where agreeing to a huge rate rise may be the only way out in the future if they don’t demerge.
With a possible change of Government on Saturday the matter will no doubt continue to be at the forefront after CGRC successfully argued to demerge and return to Cootamundra and Gundagai Councils, a process set to start next year.
It was detailed at the February meeting that Hilltops Council is 29 employees short which is no doubt spreading the load across the remaining staff making their workload heavier, but at the same time saving Council money each week in salaries. One statement in the LKS document is stark and on page 12.
It states, “Based on the investigations of LKS Quaero it is obvious that the individual Councils would need to review existing services if unchanged with a view to reduce services and subsequently employment levels.
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