WILL RATEPAYERS PAY HEAVY MERGER PRICE?

The council has agreed in principle to a request from Environment Minister Edwin Poots that they pay the costs of the merger - estimated to be around 118m across Northern Ireland.

Banbridge Chief Executive Liam Hannaway said he could not rule out an extra cost to the rate payer as local government in Northern Ireland prepares for one of its biggest reforms yet.

"At this stage I cannot rule out an additional cost to the ratepayer but certainly we will be doing our best to ensure that doesn't happen," said Mr Hannaway.

The council received a letter from Mr Poots last Friday warning that the Executive at Stormont faces cuts of 1bn and saying councils need to contribute to cost-saving measures.

Cutting councils from 26 to 11 is expected to save the Northern Ireland budget more than 400m over the next 25 years, but it could cost a substantial amount to reduce the councils in the immediate future.

At one stage last month it looked like the formation of the supercouncils would be delayed until 2015 because of disagreement over council boundaries.

Mr Hannaway said the Minister will have to provide a good business case before the council agrees to pay any costs.

"Yes there will be savings, but we will have to invest to achieve those savings," said the Chief Executive, who added that the discussions between Banbridge, Armagh and Craigavon are further ahead than many other cluster councils.

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"We will have to sit down and look at each area. Until we do that and look at the details we can't put a figure on any cost for this council."

John Mathews from the Northern Ireland Local Government Association (NILGA) agreed with Mr Hannaway's concerns over added cost to local ratepayers.

"The minister has had about nine months and has known the position of local government and what conditions we are prepared to go along with for the reorganisation," he said.

"We have always been very clear that if this reorganisation is to happen, it has to be on a cost-neutral basis for the ratepayer."