The financial future of Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council as both a single organisation and as two standalone entities has been laid bare in a new report.
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The report has been released amid an ongoing debate into whether the council should be demerged after a forced amalgamation in 2016.
For a second time, the Local Government Boundaries Commission (LGBC) is examining a proposal to demerge Cootamundra-Gundagai, with four public hearings due to be held towards the end of the month.
This follows on from a previous LGBC process beginning in early 2020, which found that a "substantial majority" of residents in both the former Gundagai and Cootamundra shires supported overturning the amalgamation.
The LGBC's official report recommended it stay amalgamated, however there was a dissenting report from two commissioners. Local government minister Shelley Hancock decided the council should remain merged due to there being "no clear consensus on the issue", however a new inquiry is now under way.
Last month, the LGBC released a summary of key financial findings from an analysis commissioned from Deloitte Touch Tohmatsu.
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The report states that Gundagai's ability to achieve financial sustainability is "significantly lower" than that of Cootamundra's, or a continued merged council.
It also found that if a demerger were to occur Cootamundra would operate with a surplus, whereas Gundagai would have an operating deficit of more than $2 million by the 2026 financial year.
Cootamundra-Gundagai mayor Charlie Sheahan said he couldn't make any predictions about the council's financial states if demerged, because he was focusing on the council as it currently stands. "We're struggling to have an operational surplus under the organisation as it is," he said. "We are searching for ways to repair that and improve the situation but it's going to be a long road ahead."
Cr Sheahan also said the findings of the latest report weren't new information, with similar outcomes predicted in previous financial analyses.
"Most of the parochial voices are coming from the Gundagai end to force the demerge, even though Deloitte is showing in a demerged situation they might not be so well off," he said.
"Why should the Cootamundra ratepayers be burdened in a situation that's not producing the efficiencies that it was meant to do in the first place?"
Cr Sheahan acknowledged that social aspects played a large role in attitudes towards the amalgamation, a sentiment echoed by councillor and former mayor Abb McAlister.
"You don't have to be blind to see how bad the financials are, but the government and the Boundaries Commission has got to realise the social side ... I think it's even worse than the financial," Cr McAlister said, adding it is "only getting worse".
Other councillors were contacted about the issue but no further responses were received before deadline.
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