Thank you for your feedback on the draft Terms of Reference
IPART published the Draft Terms of Reference for a review of the council financial model in NSW on our website and the NSW Have Your Say website on 30 January 2024. We asked stakeholders to provide feedback until 15 March 2024 or complete a NSW Have Your Say survey.
We received 103 submissions to the Draft Terms of Reference and 448 responses to the Have your Say survey from ratepayers, councillors, and organisations including councils, council organisations and advocacy groups. We thank the sector for its active engagement with IPART and for providing valuable feedback.
On 19 March 2024, IPART received a letter from the NSW Government withdrawing the referral for the review of the financial model for councils to avoid unnecessary duplication, as the matter will now instead be considered via an inquiry by the NSW Parliament’s Standing Committee on State Development.
IPART has reviewed all submissions and survey responses and provided a summary of issues raised to the NSW Government. All non-confidential submissions have been published in line with IPART’s submissions policy. We have also published an Information Paper on the survey results.
At a high-level, most stakeholder feedback supported the proposal to undertake a review. Some stakeholders also suggested expanding the Draft Terms of Reference to cover additional issues, including:
- council functions and governance
- complexity of reporting frameworks
- impacts of council amalgamations
- differences between council types (metropolitan, regional and rural)
- cost shifting
- the role of State and Federal Governments
- grants and contributions
- impacts of climate change and climate change-related costs
- impacts of the rate peg
- the special variation process.
We received feedback on many other broader issues related to local government, not specific to the Draft Terms of Reference, which was within the scope of the review of the financial model of councils in NSW.