19 April 2013
The TCorp report on the financial performance of the NSW councils is a damming comment on the financial management of the 3rd tier of government, says the Urban Taskforce.
Clearly, councils need to be more business like in the way they run their activities, says the Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson. There is a clear conflict in councils between the advocacy role on behalf of their electorate and the efficient running of services.
It would appear that councils have become overly focussed on helping their voter base without sufficient focus on the efficiency of how they undertake their activities.
The TCorp report reinforces the need for major reform of local government in NSW. This will require the amalgamation of some small councils and a more efficient sharing of services between groups of councils.
Putting planning staff for a number of councils in a Centre of Excellence for 8 or 9 councils will lead to a more effective service. There are many council services that can be delivered more effectively through a sharing of staff within a combined centre.
The New Zealand Government is driving more efficient and business like approaches for councils and NSW can learn from this.
In Southern California, the Lakewood model is a classic example of councils being run on business like principles.
The big concern from the current study by TCorp is that projections into the future look worse than the current performance of councils. This is a wake-up call to councils to seriously consider major reform.
