Annual Budget 2009 - Roscommon County Council
Annual Budget 2009 - Roscommon County Council
Annual Budget 2009 - Roscommon County Council
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Manager’s Foreword<br />
for cubic meter for water. This charge is lower than those of our nearest neighbouring counties and<br />
other similar counites around the country. The meter charge will remain at €100 and the domestic<br />
allowance of 50,000 gallons will also continue to apply. The charge for sewage will be €1.20 which<br />
again compares favourably with neighbouring counties.<br />
In the area of waste management <strong>Roscommon</strong> <strong>County</strong> <strong>Council</strong> continues to develop its network of<br />
facilities and to ensure appropriate enforcement and regulation is effected. Work has commenced on<br />
the provision of a new Civic Amenity Site at Castlerea and this will be completed during Q2 <strong>2009</strong>.<br />
Provision for operation of the facility is also included in the Draft <strong>Budget</strong> figures.<br />
<strong>Roscommon</strong> must also continue to seek and obtain licences from the EPA for our Sewage Treatment<br />
plants and it has been necessary to include a sum of €263,000 (an increase of €163,000 over the 2008<br />
figure) to comply with this requirement in <strong>2009</strong>.<br />
Plans for the provision of our new <strong>County</strong> Headquarters continue to be developed. Proposals under the<br />
Design Build process have been received and the submissions are being assessed. Discussions are<br />
continuing with the Department of The Environment Heritage & Local Government.<br />
A new office has been procured for the Boyle Area and this is now occupied thus providing for<br />
significantly improved customer service and relieving the congested conditions for staff that had<br />
pertained in the former premises.<br />
<strong>Roscommon</strong> <strong>County</strong> <strong>Council</strong> has embarked on devising a Procurement Plan to ensure that all sections<br />
of the organisation complies with EU and Irish Government procurement rules as well as seeking out<br />
areas where efficiencies through combined purchasing, using collective bargaining in conjunction with<br />
other Local Authorities and new forms of contract can help to reduce costs. Some of the target areas<br />
in <strong>2009</strong> will include Energy, Stationery, Advertising and Library Books.<br />
This Draft <strong>Budget</strong> has been devised working in consultation with the Corporate Policy Group. Difficult<br />
choices have to be made between the effects of increasing the commercial rates as with cutbacks in<br />
the various services and shedding of jobs as well as cutbacks in the various grant schemes. Ultimately,<br />
in the present economic climate and the business downturn the argument to cap the commercial rate<br />
is deemed the most appropriate option. Thus, the various grant schemes for community and other<br />
groups and funding for external bodies have been reduced by 50% for this year in most cases.<br />
However, the amentiy schemes grant and the grants for voluntary groups who carry out cemetery<br />
maintenance have been kept up to €100,000 each. It has been decided to reduce councillor training<br />
by €50,000. While it is understood that any cut will cause difficulty for various beneficiaries, these<br />
reductions are being made with the full intention of restoration and building them back up when the<br />
economic climate improves.<br />
The Draft <strong>Budget</strong> for <strong>2009</strong> provides a total revenue expenditure of €76,533,300 while income from<br />
<strong>Council</strong> activities is budgeted at €44,381,800. This leaves a balance of €32,151,500 to be funded by<br />
way of Commercial Rates and the Local Government Fund. The total allocation to <strong>Roscommon</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />
<strong>Council</strong> for <strong>2009</strong> from the Local Government Fund is €21,765,459, a reduction of 6.62% on the<br />
previous year, which means the amount to be raised by Commercial rates equates to €10,169,081. The<br />
<strong>Roscommon</strong> <strong>County</strong> <strong>Council</strong> | Comhairle Chontae Ros Comain | Adopted <strong>Budget</strong> <strong>2009</strong> | For year ended 31st December <strong>2009</strong><br />
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