AT ITS meeting on Wednesday evening Queanbeyan City Council has provided provisional support for the NSW Government’s proposal for a merger of Queanbeyan and the western part of Palerang Council.

A spokesperson said that in stating its provisional support, the Council has outlined a number of terms for the NSW Government to implement, should the proposal go ahead and has requested the NSW Government consider the part-merger proposal concurrently with a proposal to merge fully with Palerang, which is also now being considered by the NSW Government.

The terms upon which Council agreed to provisionally support the proposal are:

• Boundaries be adjusted around Majors Creek and Araluen to bring them within proposed extended Goulburn-Mulwaree Council area.
• Council reserves the right to seek modifications of other boundaries with Cooma-Monaro and Goulburn-Mulwaree in accordance with the Local Government Act. Bungendore not be classified as a rural centre in terms of section 218CA of the Local Government Act.
• The RMS contract be awarded to Goulburn-Mulwaree Council to assist with equitable distribution of assets, revenues and staff, as well as providing that council with an ongoing income source to off-set potential costs arising from the partitioning.”
• That Council seek an equalisation grant from the NSW Government to bring Palerang assets to a category 1 level as per Queanbeyan City Council standards.
• The new council have 13 councillors with no wards and a popularly elected mayor.

Queanbeyan Mayor Tim Overall said Council will make a submission on the part-merger proposal by 28 February and alongside the above terms, it will raise concerns with the financial assumptions, staff number assumptions and communities of interest.

A date for the Public Inquiry for the full Queanbeyan-Palerang merger proposal has not yet been finalised. Further information on that proposal can be found at councilboundaryreview.nsw.gov.au