Table of Contents

20 March 2012
30/12 GEN MAN 2 GENERAL MANAGER'S REPORT: WATER AND SEWERAGE REFORM
1) Introduction
The purpose of this report is to determine a formal council position on a
proposal to form a single water and sewerage corporation for the State.
2) Background
In September 2011 Mr Hampton advised all councils, at the LGAT general
meeting, that he was reviewing the setting up of the regional water and
sewerage corporations as a single statewide corporation. He had presented
a scenario that allowed all councils (owners) to be better off financially than
staying as regional corporations. Mr Hampton had engaged accounting firm
Deloitte to review the merger material and report on:
• The reasonableness of the savings forecast, and
• The reasonableness of the proposed equity split;
At the LGAT General Meeting on 16 November 2011, standing orders were
suspended so the merits of establishing a single water and sewerage
corporation could be debated. Mr Garcia advised the meeting that Mr
Hampton had conceded that the 1 July 2012 timeline would be very difficult
to achieve and that the Deloitte report would be available the next week. The
meeting passed the following resolution unanimously:
“that the matter be deferred pending the provision of an independent due
diligence report.”
Council received the Deloitte report on 22 November 2011 and the report
confirmed the reasonableness of the savings assumptions, and suggested
that savings could be greater than the $ 5m forecast.
After the release of the Deloitte report many councils approached the LGAT
requesting regional forums, seeking advice and a more detailed governance
document. The Water and Sewerage Working Group established at the
August General Meeting reconvened in December 2011 to develop a more
detailed document to assist council. This document was forwarded to council
in December 2011.
A LGAT regional forum was held at Windsor Community Precinct, Riverside
on 2 February 2012 and was attended by representatives of all eight
northern councils. Allan Garcia provided an overview of the December
document and the progress to date in the other two regions.
Council has discussed the matter of water and sewerage reform at
workshops held in November 2011 and January 2012.
3) Strategic/Annual Plan/Council Policy
Not applicable.
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