The West Tamar, Meander Valley and Northern Midlands councils have decided to investigate shared services.

The mayors and general managers of the councils made the move after individual discussions with Local Government Minister Peter Gutwein.

A letter from the Launceston City Council inviting the councils to discuss amalgamations was probably motivation, too.

The three smaller councils are resistant to merging with the much larger Launceston council and are unlikely to merge voluntarily.

Each council involved has similar structures and contains a mixture of small towns and rural areas in its area.

Combined, they have an income of $56 million and a population of 54,000 people.

Councils throughout the state are facing increased costs with often-static or declining revenue streams.

Cuts to grants from the federal government are also about to impact councils.

Getting together to discuss sharing resources is good policy, particularly with the state government offering cash incentives.

The state government has offered between $25,000 and $50,000 for councils to model the impacts of amalgamations and greater resource-sharing.

The test will be whether resource-sharing goes far enough in reducing duplication and costs.

It is debatable whether any talks of resource-sharing will be able to find the necessary gains.

That could well leave the state in the same position as it is now; too many councils with too many vested interests in charge of decision-making.

Having 29 councils, each with duplications such as payroll, administration, service delivery and information technology to name a few, is unviable.

Leaving the decision to councils is unfair and unlikely to deliver sustainable results.

Little came from previous discussions.

We have said it before: amalgamations should be put on the agenda as a policy item and voted for at the next state election.