Ballina number-crunching begins

Ballina annual budget number-crunching begins


Anna-Marie Flynn

BALLINA Town Council will hold its annual budget meeting this evening (Tuesday).
At the meeting, councillors will be asked to consider the Draft Annual Budget 2010 before voting on it. They will also be asked to vote on whether or not to increase rates for the coming year.
Elected members agreed to hold the meeting on January 5 to allow for lengthy discussion on the draft report prepared by officials and headed up by Town Manager, Paddy Mahon, who has warned that the vast reduction in Government funding available to local authorities means there is an obvious difficulty for capital spending. “There is nothing easy about this, everything has to be looked at,” he said.
The council will have difficulty matching its performance at last year’s number crunching sessions which ultimately saw a one per cent cut in the commercial rate. Ballina Town Council was one of the first local authorities in the country to introduce a decrease. It had been initially mooted by officials that a two per cent rate hike was necessary but after several lengthy meetings, elected members negotiated a decrease at the eleventh hour.
Speaking at the December meeting of the authority during a brief discussion on the meeting date, Mayor Cllr Mary Kelly said: “Considering the economic climate and the year that has gone by, this budget is of utmost importance for the future of the town and the Council. We will all have to look at the draft report carefully and bring to the table what we can for the good of the town,” she said.
But Town Manager, Paddy Mahon, said the budget ‘won’t be easy’. “It has certainly been a difficult year. We have lost staff and are not allowed to replace them and pressure is put on the whole system. Considering the economic constraints, I think this Council has continued to carry out as much work as possible, but certainly the New Year budget will reflect those same economic constraints for the coming year.”
Mr Mahon continued by adding the news was not all bad for Ballina, considering the recent European Regional Development Fund of €1.4 million which will see three projects – Pearse Street revamp, creation of a link road between Pearse Street and Market Street and the commencement of the Jackie Clarke Library – starting in 2010 in the town.
“This funding delivered under the hub status programme is a welcome boost for the town and allows us to get projects off the ground immediately. Pearse Street has already started and the other two projects will be starting in the New Year. This will give the whole town a lift so it is great to see development even in these difficult economic times,” said Mr Mahon.