A draft submission from the Invercargill City Council (ICC), which was made public yesterday, also accuses the Government of failing to take proper stock of the financial implications of its controversial proposals.
"The financial implications of the proposal have not been assessed.''
The submission points out that there is very little indication of how the costs for the proposed mega New Zealand Institute of Technology will be split.
The submission also quoted from the Government's regulatory impact statement, which stated "We expect that the Crown would meet some, but not all, of these costs''.
"As the potential significant financial impacts may be, in some part, borne by local government, the ICC considers it appropriate that adequate time is given for stakeholders, including ICC, to consider the final proposal prior to the drafting of any legislation,'' the submission says.
The ICC submission also pointed out that the Government, by its own admission in the regulatory impact statement "does not yet sufficiently understand the likely impacts of the proposal''.
In its submission, the council claims the Government's proposals will undermine the Southland region and it should consider fixing financially troubled institutions "rather than risking the success of the SIT (Southern Institute of Technology) by combining it into a single entity''.
Councillors were due to vote on whether to approve the report at an extraorinary meeting to be held late on Tuesday.
