Council not going bankrupt

Mayo County Council not ‘on verge of going bankrupt’


Denise Horan

A WESTPORT town councillor who last week claimed Mayo County Council is ‘on the verge of going bankrupt’ told The Mayo News he has ‘no basis’ for the claim other than listening to discussions emanating from County Council meetings which indicate that the local authority is struggling financially.
Responding to the comment from Cllr Peter Flynn, which raised a few eyebrows at last week’s monthly meeting of Westport Town Council during a discussion on the planned civic centre project for the town, Peter Duggan, Mayo County Council’s Head of Finance, confirmed that while ‘times are tough’, the local authority is ‘not bankrupt and is not on the verge of bankruptcy’.
“The county councillors adopt a budget at the start of every year and we continually monitor and review our spending on a weekly and monthly basis,” said Mr Duggan.
“I won’t deny that times are tough, but through efficiencies in our spending in the coming months we would hope to break even at the end of the year or maybe record a small surplus. Our balance sheet is in a healthy position, as the councillors saw at the last monthly meeting, and we are asset-backed, with over €3.5 billion in assets, which mostly includes housing stock and other infrastructure.”
Mayo County Council recorded a deficit at the end of last year, but Mr Duggan pointed out that this included one ‘exceptional, once-off payment’ – to end the refuse service – and if this were removed the balance sheet would have shown a surplus.
When contacted by The Mayo News, Cllr Flynn said he had no specific basis for his comment and was not privy to any more information than any other member of the public. He said he made the comment in support of his view that Mayo County Council should not be involved in the purchase of the 4.4-acre convent site in Westport, as Westport Town Council had funds set aside specifically for the purpose of building new civic offices.
“Mayo County Council has not shown an iota of interest in services for Westport as long as I’ve been here [on the Town Council] and it makes me nervous that they are to be involved in the purchase of a prime site in the middle of Westport town that the Town Council was looking at buying anyway.
“It just doesn’t make sense,” he said.