Council elections should be held simultaneously

LGNSW president Keith Rhoades has criticised the conflicting reports around the date of the next election and has called for one clear date for both amalgamated and stand-alone councils.

When the proposed mergers were first announced, councils were told by Premier Mike Baird the elections would be pushed back until March 2017.

In January, the plan was for the elections to continue as planned in September.

"Of course, it created confusion. We get told one thing by the Premier and one thing by the Minister," Cr Rhoades said.

"People like to plan. Those who are going to retire at the end of this term, those who want to be considered as a councillor, these things don't just happen, they need to be planned."

Cr Rhoades said he took the idea to the 84 mayors who were with LGNSW.

"I surveyed our members to find out what their opinion was and they were slightly in favour of all going to elections at the one time," he said.

"If the amalgamations aren't finalised by September, they want to postpone all elections to March next year, but to serve a four-and-a-half year term to get the elections back on track in September 2021."

In a statement to Fairfax Media, Local Government Minister Paul Toole said councils unaffected by the merger should plan for local government elections in September.

However, if the newly created councils were not ready for elections in September, Mr Toole said it was intended for their elections to be pushed back until March 2017.

While the public inquiries into an amalgamation between Dubbo and Wellington had already been held, written submissions could still be made.

The submissions need to address Section 263 of the Local Government Act, such as the "financial advantages or disadvantages of the proposal to the residents and ratepayers" and "the impact of the proposal on the employment of the staff by the council".

Written submissions can be made until 5pm, February 28, at www.councilboundaryreview.nsw.gov.au.