Title: When will they ever learn? The financial implications of water 'regionalisation' for non-metropolitan New South Wales local councils

Authors: Brian Dollery; Andrew Johnson

Addresses: School of Business, Economics and Public Policy, University of New England, Armidale NSW 2351, Australia. ' Port Pirie Regional Council, Port Pirie SA 5540, Australia

Abstract: An inquiry into water and wastewater in NSW recommended the |regionalisation| of water services away from local councils. However, these recommendations have yet to be implemented. This paper argues that any |regionalisation| of water services will have disastrous results on the financial sustainability of local councils in non-metropolitan NSW. Since |bigger is not better| in water services and the costs of |regionalisation| are prohibitively high, the paper argues that the NSW state government should instead consider other methods of improving the efficiency of water and wastewater services.

Keywords: regionalisation; non-metropolitan councils; New South Wales; local councils; Australia; financial implications; water supply; wastewater; water services; local government; financial sustainability; operating costs; state governments; regions; efficiency; operational consolidation; sewerage services; sewers; sewage; waste; public policy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPP.2011.043560

International Journal of Public Policy, 2011 Vol.7 No.4/5/6, pp.301 - 319

Accepted: 16 May 2011
Published online: 14 Jan 2015 *

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