Keith Rhoades

Unpopular forced council mergers in NSW are now unfit for the future after rejection by The Nationals.

An overheated property market has state ministers, local councils and developers hot and bothered over who reaps the spoils.

Council general managers who miss out on interim jobs at the helm of new merged councils may get ‘deputy’ jobs to avoid saddling ratepayers with the cost of paying out their entitlements.

NSW is pushing ahead with plans to slash the number of local councils, inviting council bosses to apply for “interim” general manager roles. Pay, performance management and other contract details are still undecided.