LOGAN HOWLETT’S family is hundreds of thousands of dollars out of pocket following the Barnett government’s now-abandoned council amalgamations.

Under the mergers, the Cockburn mayor’s North Lake home of 32 years was to shift into neighbouring Melville, making him ineligible to remain in office.

Mr Howlett bought and moved into a Munster home to ensure he could remain in his position and seek re-election of what was to be a merged Cockburn-Kwinana (Jervoise Bay).

Given all mergers have been cancelled following bruising defeats in three local referenda, Mr Howlett’s expensive move was completely unnecessary.

“There is no avenue for me to pursue personal financial compensation, so I’ll just need to take it on the chin,” he says, stoically. “We’ll probably keep this place and look at buying or building somewhere else.

“It’s been time-consuming and costly for not only local government and ratepayers, but also personally for my family.”

A number of mayors are demanding compensation from the state government for the millions spent preparing for amalgamations but premier Colin Barnett is refusing to cough up. He has returned $60 million of state government money set aside for mergers to WA Treasury.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK