New England Joint Organisation adopts a new fee structure which means Moree Plains Shire Council will pay much more

The original NEJO membership fee on start-up in 2018 was a flat fee of $5,000 per council. This year Moree Plains Shire Council has paid $17,280 for the privilege.

Late last year two membership fee structure options were put to the board of the NEJO in a report prepared by executive officer Brooke Southwell for review at its November 2019 meeting.

In the report, Ms Southwell stated that the joint organisation had fixed costs of $115,000 per year that could not be funded through grants and could not be maintained under the existing membership structure. She also outlined the fees charged by other joint organisations which ranged from under $10,00 to over $50,000.

For the 2020/21 budget member councils were asked to adopt either a flat fee of $17,000 each, or a population-based fee structure similar to the one used by the Orana Joint Organisation of Councils.

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At the time, Inverell Council indicated it would prefer the flat fee structure of $17,000 as did Glen Innes and Armidale councils.

The membership fees agreed to at a teleconference meeting in April were that the NEJO 2020/2021 membership contribution be made up of a flat fee of $8,500 plus a 50 per cent per capita fee based on 2016 Census population data.

This resulted in the following membership fees per council: Inverell - $19,490 (based on a population 17,300); Armidale - $28,320 (based on a population of 31,500); Moree - $17,280 (based on a population of 13,750); Narrabri $17,070 (based on a population of 13,400); Glen Innes - $14,200 (based on a population of 8,800); Tenterfield $13,180 (based on a population of 7,150); and Uralla -$12,680 (based on a population of 6,350).

Gwydir Shire Council joined the group as an associate member for a fee of $8,500 which means they can participate in meetings but have no voting rights.

At the council meeting on October 8, Moree Plains Shire councillors begrudgingly voted to stay within the NEJO, adopting the new fee structure, as they understand the benefits being in the JO brings.

"I'm not thrilled about it but I feel that being part of the JOC has been very much a part of our whole application for the Inland Rail and Special Activation Precinct (SAP) and everything else," Moree mayor Katrina Humphries said during the meeting.

"I'm thinking we possibly need to stay there with the SAP for this year. I'm thinking we pay it this year, and stay in membership and in line and it would be a thing for the next council this time next year to resolve whether they wish to continue or not.

"But I'm not happy about it and I've questioned it and I've challenged it and suggested that the administration costs need to be kept within their means."

Cr Mike Montgomery said while he likes the idea of working regionally and with state and federal colleagues, his understanding was that the NEJO would be "minimalist in its approach, that it would be collegiate in the way it developed projects and that it would be internally funded by the members".

"I think that message should be taken back to the board. But nonetheless I think as a member, we have done well and I think we can contribute to our neighbours upstream in a way that benefits them as well," he said.

"But you don't just have to throw money at these organisations. They are best run by the members themselves where they can take control of an issue and bring a bit of local common sense to it, rather than having someone driving an agenda."

MPSC general manager Lester Rodgers explained to councillors during the meeting that one of the reasons Moree left the Namoi Joint Organisation was because the fees were going to be $33,000.

He said Moree then joined the NEJO on the basis of participating in a minimalist manner while still enjoying the benefits of working collegiality.

"The mayor asked the chairperson what the reason behind the increase was and the response was that there is a lot of strategic work that is planned by the NEJO," Mr Rodgers explained.

"Again that is not consistent with the manner in which this council agreed to join. That was that each council would shoulder the costs of strategic work in their area and we would come together for the collective good and we would share benefits by trying to minimise costs.

"So it was quite a shock to see the proposed increase. And even though the board has agreed to adopt it by adopting their management plan, I'm aware that there are a number of individual councils that are concerned about the increase."

Uralla Mayor Michael Pearce chairs NEJO and he says it is early days for the group.

"There are 12 joint organisations across New South Wales with some of the test case JOs having operated for 13 years now, so we're one of the babies in the group and one of the smaller JOs," he said.

"We're still setting our foundations up and getting things in a line.

"We've received $150,000 funding from the government and that is going into developing a New England road network strategy and a tourism campaign.

"A joint organisation is not a third tier of government, it is a group of councils who can get together as one voice and look at initiatives that cover the region."

The next NEJO board meeting is set for November 30 and will be hosted by Moree Plains Shire Council.