Page 164 - Enabling National Initiatives to Take Democracy Beyond Elections

RECOMMENDATION: Maximum size of Victorian municipalities Rationale: ii To minimise disparity of representation among different municipalities and to ensure Councils don’t get too big. To distinguish local level government from higher-level government, i.e. state etc. Fewer larger multi Councillor wards, provide compromise between diversity of local representation and focus on municipality wide issues, ensuring strategic view of issues. This may occur by: Proposed upper limit on number of councillors and resident/voter to Councillor ratio. • Maximum number of councillors per municipality be increased from 12 to 15 (including mayor) • Maximum resident/ratepayer to Councillor ratio be limited • If maximum resident/ratepayer to Councillor is exceeded, municipality to be subdivided • If number of COGG councillors is increased to 15, then recommended ward structure is 5 wards of 3 councillors. GOVERNMENT RESPONSE: SUPPORT-IN-PRINCIPLE. Action: • CONSIDER as part of the current Local Government Act Review. Comment: The Government recognises the challenges of achieving reasonable resident/voter to councillor ratios when Victoria is experiencing significant population growth. Rather than achieving this through the creation of new Councils,the Government’s approach has been to propose – through the Local Government Act Review - an increase in the allowable band of councillor numbers per Council from 5-12 to 5-15. The expectation is that a new upper limit of 15 councillors would apply in Councils with more than 250,000 residents. Where 15 councillors are to be elected, it is proposed that a ward structure of five wards each with three councillors will be allowable if proposed reforms to the Local Government Act 1989 are implemented. 162 A Project of the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) This government response by Local Government Victoria took what the citizens write themselves (in grey) and then answered each point in turn with a detailed response.