County council (New South Wales)

{{Short description|Local government type in NSW, Australia}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}

{{Use Australian English|date=December 2024}}

A county council in New South Wales, Australia, is a special purpose local government bodyLocal Government Act 1919 (NSW), section 563Local Government Act 1993 (NSW), section 388Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia v Queensland Rail [2015] HCA 11 (8 April 2015) in which the High Court decided that, whether a body was a corporation was to be determined from the facts, not some contrived statement in its constituting document or legislation attempting to evade the jurisdiction of Commonwealth law. On the basis of the High Court's decision, local councils and county councils constituted under the Local Government Act 1993 (NSW) are corporations but each may or may not be a 'trading corporation', depending on further facts.Mrs Veronika Bonora v Council of The City of Ryde - [2024] FWC 384 quote: "It is sufficient to record, as the above authorities make clear, that the NSW Parliament’s declaration in [] the LG Act does not, without more, remove the legal possibility that Ryde Council is a constitutional corporation." to which a group of local government councils delegate the provision of certain services. Under the Local Government Act 1993, a county council can exist only for a specific purpose or purposes identified by the proclamation of the Governor which establishes it.{{Cite web |date=February 2024 |title=County councils in NSW |url=https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/ladocs/other/19120/Riverina%20Water%20fact%20sheet%20-%20County%20Councils%20in%20NSW%20-%2012%20February%202024.pdf |access-date=2024-12-24 |website=Parliament of New South Wales}} County councils were established under the Local Government Act 1919 (NSW). The first county council was St George County Council, formed on 4 December 1920. The area served by a county council is composed of the area of its member local government areas or parts thereof. The councillors of a county council are not directly elected by residents and property owners but are delegates of the member local governments. County councils were once widespread. They formerly played a major role in electricity distribution, particularly in metropolitan areas but the electricity county councils were taken over by the NSW government which privatised and sold the businesses. By the 2020s, only nine county councils remained, all but one in regional areas.

County councils are not the related to the 141 New South Wales land division counties for surveying and land title registration. Rous County Council is similarly named after Rous County and operates in a similar geographical area but the area it serves does not coincide with the county. Similarly, the area served by the former Cumberland County Council, a greater Sydney's urban planning county council that existed from the 1940s thru 1960s, was different from the County of Cumberland land division.