THE West Tamar Council has ruled out voluntary amalgamations and the George Town Council will wait for further information on the issue after being asked by Local Government Minister Peter Gutwein for a stance on the topic.
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Both councils discussed voluntary amalgamations and resource-sharing at their respective monthly meetings last week following a letter from Mr Gutwein sent to all councils in February.
The letter from Mr Gutwein offered councils funding to explore voluntary amalgamations and resource-sharing and asked for a stance on both topics.
West Tamar Council mayor Christina Holmdahl said a lengthy discussion and workshop on the issue ensued at the organisation's Tuesday meeting.
She said high satisfaction rates within the community and consistently positive reports from the Auditor-General meant voluntary amalgamations were unlikely to result in better service for the region.
Instead, the council will hire an independent expert to assess the council's benchmarking.
"We were going to review and look at opportunities we would have in resource-sharing and shared resources with other councils in our region.
"Before we talk to other councils we would undertake a high-level benchmarking exercise undertaken by an independent person.
"We then know what our level is before we go in to speak to other councils.
"We believe this was probably the best way to approach this."
George Town Council mayor Bridget Archer said the council voted to defer its decision on the matter until after a Local Government Association of Tasmania forum on amalgamations.
Cr Archer said the council needed more information and a signal from neighbouring councils on their respective stances before firming its own.
"We're taking cues from our neighbours," she said.