A former Harden Shire councillor has questioned a number of factors in the merged venture Hilltops Council.
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Scott Collins said transition costs for the council had already ballooned out to more than $1.44 million over budget.
He also had fears Harden’s democratic voice would be lost, saying a new council could have no representation from the town.
“We were told the merger would be better on two fronts – financial and representation,” Mr Collins said.
“The information from council has the council already $1.44 million behind in transition costs.
Mr Collins said discussion of establishing a ward system was quickly dismissed, which would have guaranteed local representation for smaller centres Harden and Boorowa.
Hilltops Council general manager Anthony McMahon has defended the apparent budget blow out, saying when the council prepared its estimated cost to merge the three councils for the state government, the total estimate was $6.4 million.
“The government only provided $5m,” Mr McMahon said.
“Council wrote to the Local Government Minister last year seeking further funding as we did not believe the community should be out of pocket for the cost of merger.”
Mr McMahon said the decision not to forge ahead with a ward system was made by the NSW government.
“What is important to highlight is that a ward system dictates that equal numbers of people are represented by equal numbers of councillors,” he said.