While Harden and Cootamundra Shires meet with the community over a proposed amalgamation, behind-the-scenes talks are continuing with Gundagai Shire.
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Harden mayor John Horton has backed the idea of a three-shire merger between Harden, Cootamundra and Gundagai.
Should the three join they will be offered an $11 million incentive by the State Government as opposed to $5 million for the merging of just two councils.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Cr Horton said.
“I approached (Gundagai mayor) Abe McAlister about 10 months ago and from day one he has said Gundagai will stand alone,” he added.
Despite this, Cr Horton said he has continued to make approaches to Cr McAlister regarding joining the Cootamundra/Harden proposal.
“If they don’t make a decision to merge and the State forces it on them they could end up with Tumut, which I believe is exactly what they don’t want,” Cr Horton said.
He said consultation meetings have been overwhelmingly positive towards the idea of joining with Cootamundra.
The initial meeting at the Country Club attracted some 140 people while in excess of 50 attended each village consultation in Wombat and Galong. The final Harden Shire meeting was held in Jugiong last night.
Already the shire has also received more than 200 feedback forms from the public stating their stance on the proposed merger.
“We’d love to get 400 or 500 back so I encourage people to continue filling out their feedback forms,” Cr Horton said.
While talk of a merger has sprung from the State Government’s Fit for the Future plan, Cr Horton said it has made sense for a long time.
“If Harden and Cootamundra were two companies, I reckon we would have sat down years ago and discussed a merger,” Cr Horton said.
He said there are natural savings in regards to pooling machinery and human resources.
“We don’t need two mayors, we don’t need two general managers,” Cr Horton said.
“I know our bulldozer is not used 52 weeks of the year and neither is Cootamundras, there could be savings here,” he added.
