The NSW Minister for Local Government Don Page says he wants to end a culture of cost shifting that has emerged between councils and the state government, announcing a review of an agreement between the tiers of government will take place in the next year.

Mr Page said the NSW Intergovernmental Agreement – which seeks to clarify whether the cost of delivering a particular local government service is the responsibility of a council, the NSW Government, or both – needs further refinement.

“The NSW Intergovernmental Agreement was badly neglected under the NSW Labor government and, as a result, claims of cost shifting remain evident as the different tiers of government blame each other for failing to fund essential services,” Mr Page said.

“The Local Government and Shires Associations (LGSA) and the former Labor government each signed up to the National Intergovernmental Agreement in April 2006, but NSW Labor did not enter into a similar arrangement with the LGSA until October 2010.

“In the meantime of course, cost shifting and blame games continued.”

Mr Page said a review of the agreement would eliminate false claims of cost shifting and lead to a greater public understanding of the roles of each tier of government.

“Some councils argue, incorrectly, that cost shifting includes such things as the provision of educational or medical services, but these are services provided by councils at their own discretion in response to community requests,” Mr Page said.

“Some councils claim cost shifting on things such as contributions to fire services, libraries and weed control, but those services are mandated by legislation and are essential functions of local government – communities expect councils to provide those services.

“The NSW Liberals & Nationals Government believes that the role of local governments needs to be better understood to identify what are the core functions of councils, what projects are the joint responsibility of local and state governments, and which are exclusively the responsibility of the NSW Government.

“Our review of the NSW Intergovernmental Agreement in the next year will aim to do that.”