SLIGO COUNTY manager Hubert Kearns yesterday cited “uncertainty regarding income from the household charge” when he called on councillors to agree a €1 million cut to the council’s budget.
The proposal was approved by a majority of one.
During a highly charged debate Fine Gael councillors were accused of trying to railroad through cuts which would impact most on vulnerable people, as Fianna Fáil and Independent members unsuccessfully sought additional information and a special meeting, before being forced to vote on the issue.
Yesterday’s vote will see the council’s expenditure cut from almost €63 million to just under €62 million and comes just three months after the annual budget was approved.
In a surprising development, a majority of 13 to nine voted to hold a special meeting later this month to discuss the adjustment, even though it has now been approved.
Independent councillor Declan Bree said the cut, which was being made on foot of a two-page report from the manager, was unprecedented “and makes a mockery of local self government”.
Last January a deputation from Sligo County Council, which is almost €86 million in debt, met Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan to discuss the financial crisis it faces.
In his address to councillors, the manager said a delay in attaining approval for a voluntary redundancy scheme, together with uncertainty about the household charge, made the cuts necessary.
But he added that there had been good compliance over the weekend with the new charge and he doubted if any new tax had achieved such high levels of compliance in just three months . As of 9am yesterday the charge had yielded €933,261 for the council.
Mr Kearns also told councillors that the workforce had been cut by 128 or 21 per cent in the past four years.
The cuts sanctioned yesterday include €250,000 for maintenance of local authority housing, over €160,000 for water, €125,000 for community and enterprise, almost €80,000 for the fire service and nearly €60,000 for the library service.
Much of the debate focused on whether the Housing Adaption Grant Scheme for elderly and disabled people would be affected.
When Fine Gael councillor Gerard Mullaney insisted that the manager’s proposal did not affect the €200,000 included in the budget for this scheme, Cllr Bree asked how he knew that. “Is there some clique comprising the Blueshirts and county manager, while the rest of us are kept in the dark?” he asked.
Mr Kearns, the manager, confirmed that the council had asked if the department would fund 100 per cent rather than the 80 per cent it currently provided for these grants, or alternatively if recipients, rather than the council, could make up the outstanding 20 per cent. The department had refused but the council had appealed that refusal.
Fianna Fáil’s Joe Queenan asked if “in the event of the department holding the line on this” the manager was suggesting that the council hand back the €800,000 already sanctioned by the department for the grants in 2012.
Mr Kearns agreed that it was “a very difficult situation” which illustrated the scale of the council’s problem. Cllr Bree said that Housing Minister Jan O’Sullivan had already stated in the Dáil, and in an email to the council, that under the regulations, 20 per cent of these grants must be paid by the local authority.
