Gunnedah councillors will vote on whether to pay someone else to research the idea of providing subsidised housing for police at Wednesday's ordinary meeting.
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Gunnedah Shire Council does not know yet how much it would cost to employ a consultant to look into the request, made by the NSW Police Force and NSW Police Association in 2018.
The councillors are divided on whether the council should subsidise police housing at all, but say they are interested to hear what a police association member has to say at a workshop before the council meeting.
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Planning and environmental manager Andrew Johns wrote to the council that talks with the association had found there were "no other known examples of councils subsiding police housing in NSW".
"Given this significant information, direction from the council is sought on whether it wishes council officers to proceed with engaging consultants to undertake the required work."
Cr Gae Swain said she felt "a bit hesitant" about the council "having to pick up a lot of extra responsibility" by providing housing but was open to hearing from Sergeant Terry Melville.
"It's not something that I'm against, but is it council's responsibility?" she said on Monday.
"I'm sure every other community is going through the same thing, especially out in rural communities."
It's not something that I'm against, but is it council's responsibility?
- Cr Gae Swain
Cr Fuller voiced her support for the request at the November meeting and said it would be a good "investment" in the community.
"We need to pursue the matter further to find out what we can and what we can't do with that," she said.
"I think we really need to have a discussion about it."
Cr Owen Hasler doesn't support the request because he believes "it's a state government issue" and was not a responsibility other councils had taken on.
"There have been issues in housing police officers, which I recognise, but I would assert that it's the state's responsibility to ensure our communities are adequately staffed by police," he said.
"If that means providing housing or subsidised housing, it should be the state that has the responsibility and the resources to supply it."
In November, the council resolved to look into the request but, after initial investigations, has decided the work must be outsourced because of "resourcing constraints".
A consultant has been identified but is not available short-term and more quotes would be needed to adhere to the council's procurement practices.
The police association requested subsidised housing because of ongoing staffing issues.
