Ballymote-Tubbercurry Minutes 2015

Minutes of The Budget Meeting of The Municipal District of Ballymote-Tobercurry held on Thursday 12th November, 2015 at 3pm in Council Chamber, County Hall, Riverside, Sligo


COUNCILLORS PRESENT:

  • Cllr Martin Baker
  • Cllr Michael Clarke
  • Cllr Margaret Gormley
  • Cllr Jerry Lundy
  • Cllr Dara Mulvey
  • Cllr Paul Taylor (Cathaoirleach)

 

OFFICIALS IN ATTENDANCE:

  • Ms. Dorothy Clarke, Deputy Chief Executive/li>
  • Ms. Marie Whelan, Head of Finance/li>
  • Mr. Tom Kilfeather, Director of Services/li>
  • Mr. John Moran, A/Director of Services/li>
  • Ms. Orlagh Campbell, A/Administrative Officer/li>
  • Ms. Sinéad Branley, Staff Officer

 

APOLOGIES:

Cllr Joe Queenan and Cllr Eamon Scanlon
Mr. Ciarán Hayes, Chief Executive

At the outset, Cllr Gormley raised the matter of the location of the meeting and requested that all meetings of the Municipal District be held in Teach Laighne. In response, Ms. Dorothy Clarke, Deputy Chief Executive advised that the date for the meeting had been set at the main Council meeting and regrettably Teach Laighne was unavailable on that date but with the agreement of the Cathaoirleach, the venue had been switched to the Council Chamber, Riverside.

CATHAOIRLEACH:

The Cathaoirleach, Councillor P. Taylor presided and advised that the purpose of the meeting was to consider the draft budgetary plan which covers discretionary expenditure allocated to the Municipal District.

TO CONSIDER DRAFT BUDGETARY PLAN:

The Deputy Chief Executive Ms. D. Clarke advised the meeting that the Executive met with the Sligo Municipal District members earlier in the week to discuss the draft budgetary plan for the Municipal Districts. She stated that the Council had endeavoured, where possible, to keep the discretionary spending figures on a par with last year. However in line with the requirements of the Financial Plan and the Department, the main focus for the 2016 budget was to increase income and reduce expenditure. 

Ms. Whelan, Head of Finance then gave an overview of the Draft Budgetary Plan under the various programme headings and the discretionary elements of same. She advised the meeting that the same template as last year had been used in the preparation of the draft budget.

A discussion among the members on the draft budgetary plan followed with all of the Members expressing their disappoinment at the level of discretionary funding available and the options open to them on where this funding is allocated. In particular, a drop of €68,000 in funding under Programme Group B – Roads Transport & Safety was felt to be unacceptable. However members paid tribute to the engineering dept and their staff for the works done with limited resources.

In response to Members queries, Mr. Tom Kilfeather advised that the Council have to produce a budget which shows a surplus of circa €2.3m in line with the requirements of the financial plan. He accepted what members had to say with regards reductions in funding under some programme headings but stated that this was the position the Council found itself in. 

Ms. D. Clarke, Deputy Chief Executive then gave an overview of Programme Group F – Recreation and Amenity to the meeting. The members thanked Ms. Clarke for the update and queried if community groups would be made aware of the change in criteria for grant applications. Ms. Clarke advised that adverts would be placed in local
newspapers.

The members then had a further discussion with regards to the area of housing including queries on new housing applications, IWIL’s and housing grant applications. In response Ms. D. Clarke, Deputy Chief Executive stated that the Council was very much dependant on national policies in the area of housing.

Councillor Baker then raised a query with regards to the matter of rates harmonisation. In response, Ms. M. Whelan explained the rationale behind rates harmonisation and distributed a handout to members. She stated that this item would also be on the agenda for the full Council budget meeting to be held on 23rd November.

At this point, the Deputy Chief Executive, Ms. Clarke advised the members that it is a reserved function of the members to adopt the budgetary Plan as presented to them with or without amendments. If the members do not pass the plan the Chief Executive is obliged to incorporate it into the General Council Budget. It was then 

Proposed by Councillor M. Gormley 
Seconded by Councillor M. Clarke

AND AGREED

“To defer the Draft Budgetary Plan as presented to the members to the Main Budget meeting on 23rd November, 2015”.

The business of the meeting ended at 4.00pm.

Download  Minutes of Budget Meeting of the Municipal District Ballymote-Tobercurry 12th November 2015 (PDF) - 116 kbs

 

 


Meeting Date 12/11/2015