Northern councils are undertaking a benchmarking process to identify resource-sharing opportunities, as part of a state-funded initiative.

Northern Midlands, Meander Valley and George Town councils on Wednesday said savings could include cutting staff numbers and potentially reshaping governance framework.

The councils, including West Tamar, have registered opposition to forced amalgamation.

Economist Saul Eslake was part of a 2011 study into 12 Southern councils, commissioned by the Southern Tasmanian Councils Authority, which determined that a 15 per cent efficiency could be brought through amalgamations.

Mr Eslake said while the figure could not be directly translated to the North, it could be used as a reasonable benchmark, and Northern Tasmania Development could be part of that process.

‘‘For a starting point, it’s important to say we didn’t look at councils in the North, so we’re not speaking from a position of detailed knowledge,’’ he said.

‘‘But it ought to be, I would think, seen as a reasonable benchmark for what might be possible.’’

Regional bodies, such as Northern Tasmania Development in the North – and Southern Tasmanian Councils Authority in the South – could assume duties such as payroll management across councils.

‘‘It’s quite possible,’’ Mr Eslake said.

‘‘I have no idea what magnitude of savings that might come from that, but those sort of arrangements, at first thought seem to make sense at least.’’

A Deloitte report, commissioned by the Property Council of Tasmania in 2011, found that structural reforms for councils in Tasmania could allow efficiency gains of up to 35 per cent.

It costs almost $72 million a year to fund the 864 full-time equivalent employees in the state’s eight Northern councils.

The figures, contained in the Auditor-General’s 2014-15 annual report, showed employees were paid an average of $80,500 a year.