WITH the city’s capital budget being eroded, a warning has come from Mayor Jim Long, that City Council will be unable to retain a maintenance crew after two years.
He told the Limerick Post: “As it is, we are outsourcing more work, as we can’t recruit.
“We don’t have a plumbing service – we have had to outsource most of the work in the past few months – we even had to supply paints and materials to tenants to do the work themselves”.
He predicted that down the road, the council could have a serious problem in retaining its properties and tenants,
Taking issue with the views expressed by Limerick Chamber President, Kieran MacSweeney that the €100 household charge be paid directly to the local authorities, rather than “being pooled into the national finances to pay central deficits,” Mayor Long is adamant that the charge should be paid to a national body.
“They will allocate the moneys to be distributed back to the councils,” he said.
He pointed out that in agreeing to bail out the country in paying back its €300billion debt, the International Monetary Fund said that every man, woman and child had been told they would be paying back for 20 years.
“However, with property, water charges and an increase in taxation going into the exchequer, Ireland will be seen as paying more then it was required to do.
“The Fianna Fail government sent out the invoices, Fine Gael and Labour collected the payments, and I now question Sinn Fein, the Independents and Fianna Fail, will they now write off the debt – there’s only one way and we know it”.
Unhappy with the household charge, Mayor Long says: “there will be more to come – it will go up to €208 in Limerick
“They have scaled it initially to properties valued at €150,000 paying €178 in household charge,
“The only good thing is that council tenants are not being charged, but that could change down the line”.
Admitting that “in two years, the council could have a serious problem in retaining its properties and tenants, the mayor added:
“The only way at present is for us to outsource the work, which has to be paid for, so the household charge is necessary to pay for that – I agree with the Minister for Finance in saying that the charge will pay for services”.
