Option 4 - Mosman Council merger with Manly Council
What does this mean?
Mosman Council merges with Manly Council into one organisation, with one elected Council and centralised administration and service delivery.
Mosman as a local government area ceases to exist, becoming part of a larger local area. A merger with Manly would result in an overall area of 23.2 km.
The combined population of the new local government area would be more than 74,000 compared with Mosman's population of 29,900.
The location for an amalgamated Council would need to be negotiated - e.g. either Mosman or Manly.
Some factors to consider
Mosman and Manly Councils have worked together for many years as members of SHOROC.
Mosman has not approached Manly Council for discussions and neither Council has indicated its support for this option.
The merged Councils would be closer to the 'scale and capacity' criteria that the NSW Government has indicated as appropriate for a local government organisation, but would still not meet these criteria.
No business case has been prepared for this proposal.
There do not seem to be any significant benefits of a merger with Manly.
Many of the costs associated with loss of independence that would occur in a mega merger (Option 2) would also occur in a merger with Manly.
