The number of Perth metropolitan councils is being slashed from 30 to 16 and a new City of South Park created by the Barnett government.

Last week, Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett officially gave the green light for the first part of its reform agenda that will  amalgamate six Metropolitan councils to three, change local government boundaries and subject council staff at the newly-created City of South Park to years of prank calls.

South Park Council, crucially, will contain the Burswood Peninsula and its cash cow, James Packer’s Burswood Casino, in a move that has triggered deep resentment from City of Perth Mayor Lisa Scaffidi.

The other two amalgamations include the City of Fremantle with the Town of East Fremantle and merging the cities of Cockburn and Kwinana to form the new City of Jervoise Bay, mercifully avoiding the portmanteau Cocknana Council and potentially stealing Coffs Harbour’s Big Banana thunder.

Local Government Minister Tony Simpson – who unfortunately isn’t lending his surname to a creating a rival satirical city of Simpson(s) – has touted the benefits of the changes, including estimated savings of between $20 and $30 million in elected member’s allowances, gained by cutting their numbers by 100, and more than $30 million in Chief Executive Officer packages over ten years saved by letting ten CEOs go.

Local government staff are expected to be told that their jobs are guaranteed for two years after the changes.

The reforms contain nine significant boundary changes affecting 15 local councils and will mean that each council represents on average 114,000 people compared with 63,000 previously.

While the Liberal WA government is pushing ahead with boundary changes and mergers recommended by the Local Government Advisory Board, it stopped short of pressing for a merger between the City of Perth and the City of Vincent and merging five of the western suburbs councils because it did not agree with some of the detail.

Mr Simpson said the Board’s proposal for Perth city was rejected because it did not include major icons such as the University of Western Australia or the Queen Elizabeth Medical Centre in the City of Perth’s boundaries. The flow on effect of this decision meant the western suburbs proposal was also dismissed.

Meanwhile, Mr Barnett has signalled his intention to introduce a City of Perth Act to set new boundaries for the city that do take in the university, the hospital, Kings Park and the City of Vincent.

“The City of Perth must be better-equipped to respond to the demands of a growing State – and better represent WA in the international market,” Mr Barnett said.

“This report provides a clear direction for the most significant step forward for local government reform in 100 years and people in the metropolitan area can clearly see how this process will affect them and the local government authority in which they will live.”

The WA government backs the creation of one council from the five western suburbs governments to form the proposed City of Riversea.

Reactions from Perth’s metropolitan councils so far have been mixed.

City of Perth Lisa Scaffidi is mostly content (casino amputation aside) but City of Vincent’s Mayor John Carey says residents fear being swallowed up by Perth and becoming ‘second-class citizens’.

Meanwhile, City of Stirling Council is feeling the sting of the decision to cut its boundaries and Kalamunda shire president Sue Bilich, whose council will be entirely absorbed into the City of Belmont under the boundary changes, has called the decision “an absolute disgrace”.

Western Australian Local Government Association (WALGA) President, Mayor Troy Pickard, welcomed the outcome.

“It takes the number of metropolitan Councils from 30 to 21, and eventually to 16 when the City of Perth Act is passed and the City of Riversea established,” Mr Pickard said.

“There are some councils that will be in support of today’s announcement and some opposed, but all will be relieved that decisions have finally been made,” he said.

But Mr Pickard warned the WA budget had not provided sufficient funding for metropolitan reform.

“The Association estimates the true cost of reform to be around $100 million, far in excess of the government’s current inadequate funding offer of $5 million each year for three years and $45 million in loans. Within such a tight timeframe, inadequate funding by the State has the potential to derail the process.”

Mr Pickard said local communities would end up paying the price of a funding shortfall through increased rates, reduced services or the sale of community assets.

The new arrangements kick in from July 2015, just before local government elections in October.

The cities of Joondalup, Rockingham and Wanneroo remain the same.