Stirling councillors held a workshop last Monday night to discuss the changes, announced by Premier Colin Barnett and Local Government Minister Tony Simpson two weeks ago, while last Friday the mayor and chief executive Stewart Jardine met with Department of Local Government officials to discuss the logistics of the process.
Cr Boothman said councillors were not happy with the decision, which will see Stirling lose at least $20 million in rates, but were determined to get the best deal possible for ratepayers.
‘The changes are inevitable so we resign ourselves to get the best outcome we possibly can,’ he said.
‘We know that the submissions have to be largely inline with the changes outlined, with only minor tweaks, so we’ll be trying to make sure we don’t end up with Beatty Park.’
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He said officers were still developing full costings of the amalgamations, which could take weeks.
‘It’s a complex process, it’s not just rates, but we have to determine facts and figures from Vincent and given they’re opposed to the process that could be difficult. In the next week or two we just have to make do with estimates, it will be a lot longer down the track until we have definitive numbers.’