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The impact of metropolitan amalgamations in Sydney on municipal financial sustainability

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  • Joseph Drew
  • Brian Dollery

Abstract

The Australian Independent Local Government Review Panel recently proposed amalgamating the majority of New South Wales (NSW) local councils in the Greater Sydney metropolitan region in order to increase municipal population size with the aim of engineering a more financially sustainable system. However, no attempt was made to determine whether there is a statistically significant association between larger population size and improved financial sustainability ratios, nor whether the proposed merged local authorities will be more financially viable. This paper addresses these critical omissions. The empirical analysis reported indicates that the proposed amalgamations will not secure enhanced financial sustainability in Greater Sydney local government.

Suggested Citation

  • Joseph Drew & Brian Dollery, 2014. "The impact of metropolitan amalgamations in Sydney on municipal financial sustainability," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(4), pages 281-288, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:pubmmg:v:34:y:2014:i:4:p:281-288
    DOI: 10.1080/09540962.2014.920201
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Brian E. Dollery & Joseph Garcea & Edward C. LeSage Jr (ed.), 2008. "Local Government Reform," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12592.
    2. Brian E. Dollery & Lorenzo Robotti (ed.), 2008. "The Theory and Practice of Local Government Reform," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12719.
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    Cited by:

    1. Joseph Drew & Brian Dollery, 2015. "Inconsistent Depreciation Practice and Public Policymaking: Local Government Reform in New South Wales," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 25(1), pages 28-37, March.
    2. Joseph Drew & Brian Dollery, 2015. "Debate: Rejoinder to Sansom (2015)," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(6), pages 395-396, November.
    3. Serena Santis, 2020. "The Demographic and Economic Determinants of Financial Sustainability: An Analysis of Italian Local Governments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-16, September.
    4. Joseph Drew & Brian Dollery, 2016. "A Factor Analytic Assessment of Financial Sustainability: The Case of New South Wales Local Government," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 26(2), pages 132-140, June.
    5. Peter Abelson, 2016. "The Optimal Size of Local Government, with Special Reference to New South Wales," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 23(1), pages 31-46.
    6. Alinska Agnieszka & Kosztowniak Aneta & Wajda Marcin, 2021. "Liabilities of Local Government Units in Poland: Identification and Analysis of Diversification Factors," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(2B), pages 113-134.
    7. Dollery, Brian & Drew, Joseph, 2017. "Paying the piper: A critical examination of ACIL Allen’s (2016) An Economic Assessment of Recasting Council Boundaries in South Australia," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 74-82.
    8. Guyot, Alexis & Doumpos, Michael & Zopounidis, Constantin, 2016. "A novel multi-attribute benchmarking approach for assessing the financial performance of local governments: Empirical evidence from FranceAuthor-Name: Galariotis, Emilios," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 248(1), pages 301-317.
    9. Joseph Drew, 2018. "Playing for keeps: local government distortion of depreciation accruals in response to high-stakes public policy-making," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(1), pages 57-64, January.

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