Councillors and executive clash over water and roads proposals

Council collision course


Councillors and executive clash over water and roads proposals

Rowan Gallagher

THE two main talking points during the recent spell of arctic weather, the roads and water supply, were firmly brought back into focus at the budget meeting of Mayo County Council yesterday (Monday), when officials from the council indicated that road maintenance budgets are to be cut - and the public are to be asked to pay an extra 10 per cent in water charges.
Councillors reacted with anger to the proposals put before them at this first meeting on the council’s controversial 2011 budget, and the likelihood is that there will be many more meetings before the end of January to try and reach a compromise.
Mayo County Council have made it clear they will be spending one fifth less on the maintenance of Mayo’s 6,561.91kms of roadway in 2011, at a time when some of the county’s road are clearly in a massive state of disrepair.
The council are also seeking to increase water charges by 10 per cent due to the increase in cost of running sewerage schemes across the county.
“In 2010 Mayo County Council borrowed €6.2m in order to meet current capital commitments on sewerage schemes in Castlebar, Ballina, Achill Sound and Kiltimagh. This will result in an increase in loan charges of €800,000 and presents Mayo County Council with no alternative but to increase water charges by 10 per cent in 2011,” the statement issued by Mayo County Council read.
Independent councillor Michael Kilcoyne condemned the increase in water charges, stating that after the recent winter shortage, people in Mayo ‘deserved better’.
“I think it’s excessive, it’s very hard to increase water rates by 10 per cent when businesses and people were left with absolutely no water for two weeks at their busiest time of the year,” concluded Cllr Kilcoyne.
Mayo County Council are now preparing themselves for a severe scrutiny of all outgoings, with Cllr Frank Durcan calling for all consultants used by the local authority to be cut completely. He also suggested that recently introduced Strategic Policy Committee meetings come under the knife to save costs, along with a 100 per cent decrease in councillor expenses.
Achill Cllr Michéal McNamara (pictured) claimed that substantial funds could be saved without hurting local businesses.
“Anyone in here who thinks businesses in this county can afford to pay an increases in charges isn’t living in the real world. In Achill during this winter we were hit twice as bad as everywhere else. Businesses are on their knees,” said Cllr McNamara.
Cllr Joe Mellett slammed the council for the proposed increase in water rates and suggested that saving could be made in other areas.
“This 10 per cent could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Money can be saved in light and heat, printing. We have to look at absolutely everything,” said the Swinford based councillor.
County Manager Peter Hynes told the council that next year’s budget was already getting eaten into. “We are burning next year’s budget trying to fix the problems. The management of the salt supplies was run by the NRA and yes there was a redistribution of salt but we could not have a situation where the N5 was unpassable, we would have been totally cut off. To keep business open was the first priority, health and safety was second priority. We handled it quite well I believe; maybe we could have handled it better. There will be lessons learned,” the County Manager concluded.
The council are to continue their budget deliberations later this week.