At a series of meetings on Monday night, Cabonne and Wellington councils reaffirmed their position not to submit a preferred merger option, while Blayney Shire Council emphasised it should stand alone unless a three-way merger occurred between Cabonne, Blayney and Orange City Council.

Blayney mayor Scott Ferguson said links existed between all three and a merger with Orange alone was not in Blayney’s best interests.

He also wanted to see the $5 million to cover merger costs and $10 million for infrastructure increased. 

“We are urging that the level of funding available to cover merger implementation costs be raised to up to $10 million and that the level of the Stronger Communities Fund be raised to up to $15 million, the same level as metropolitan councils,” he said.

Orange was due to vote on its submission on Tuesday night.

All four were assessed unfit by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal last month due to a lack of scale and capacity, despite meeting financial benchmarks.

Cabonne will state it is financially sustainable has outperformed neighbouring councils deemed fit, it is a specialist rural and small town-based council and 90 per cent of its residents did not want to amalgamate, particularly with Orange.

Meanwhile, Wellington mayor Anne Jones said all her council had received from the government was “broken promises, threats and bribes”. 

Following Wednesday’s deadline for proposals, Minister for Local Government Paul Toole is expected to announce mergers before Christmas and refer them to the Boundaries Commission, which will review the recommendations and ask for further pubic feedback before reporting to the government in mid-February.

At this point, Cabonne and Wellington could become the most vulnerable once administrators and acting general managers were appointed to the merged councils.

In accordance with a letter to mayors in the past week from Mr Toole and Premier Mike Baird, councils who tried to arrive at a merger option would be given the opportunity to shape the new entity and keep their councillors until the September elections.

danielle.cetinski@fairfaxmedia.com.au