WAKOOL Shire Council will be fit for the future if it adopts the new ‘rural council’ model, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) has declared.
IPART’s 500 page assessment of the 139 Fit for the Future (FFTF) proposals, released on Tuesday, considered Wakool Shire as one of 52 councils to be ‘fit’ under the FFTF criteria established by the NSW Government last year.
Only nine Riverina councils were deemed fit, however for five of these, including Wakool Shire, this was predicated upon becoming a ‘rural council’.
Sixteen Riverina councils were deemed unfit — including Murray, Deniliquin and Conargo, the three councils Wakool was recommended to merge with.
Wakool Shire Mayor Neil Gorey said while the shire still needed to make changes as per its FFTF proposal, the assessment was a big win for the council and community.
“It’s a good result that Wakool Shire gets to stand alone as a rural council. We’ve made a commitment to the sharing of staff resources and cost savings to maintain our status,” Cr Gorey said.
For more on this story, grab a copy of Friday’s Guardian (October 23).
