Unexpected spend dents into county Limerick budget

LIMERICK County Council is battling to get 65 per cent of homes to pay the household charge so that it can get more money form central government to provide services. But elected members heard this week that the local authority will still have to find the guts of €3 million to pay for exceptional spending which could not be factored into the original budget. A meeting of Limerick County Council was told that dealing with pollution in the river Deel cost the local authority €767,000. Set against this will be an insurance settlement of €745,000.

Dealing with leachate from the council’s landfill cost €790,000, elected members heard and this situation was exacerbated by heavy rainfall.
The third unexpected spend was €995,000 spent on retirement and pension funds, with 41 council employees opting for retirement this year so far.
The meeting was presented with a list of adjustments to the local authority’s budget to pay for the exceptional spends which will affect services across the board.
Also impacting on the council’s budget is a reduction of the allocation from the Local Government Fund.
Newly appointed County and City manager, Conn Murray, told the members that while he would be happy to discuss with councillors how savings could be achieved in the various areas, cuts must be implemented as the manager has a statutory duty to balance the council’s books.
Members were told that 63.29 per cent of households have paid the Household Charge, which would result in a reduction of €1.815 million in government funding for the year.
But the cut would be smaller if the council can pull in 65 per cent of all the households due to pay the charge, members were told.
Cllr John Sheahan (FG) said that “whether we call them adjustments or cuts, the result is the same for the people of Limerick who will not have the same level of services”.
He added that the “most crucial folly in the household charge was the system of collection. How it was to be paid left people confused left, right and centre”.
Cllr Michael Collins (FF), said that a constituent of his had got a letter “threatening that he would be brought to court if he does not pay the charge in 10 days. We should not be threatening the people of Limerick with court action”.
Cllr James Collins (FF) said there is “no incentive” for the local authority to collect any more than 65 per cent of the charge as there were no extra reduction in cuts beyond that figure.