Clare council diverts funds from disability budget to road schemes

CLARE COUNTY Council is diverting funding from its disability budget to shore up spending on its roads this year, it has emerged.

As a result of Government cuts, the local authority’s anticipated roads budget of €31.3 million was reduced by €5.2 million or 16 per cent to €26.1 million.

In a report outlining the serious financial situation facing the council, acting head of finance Noeleen Fitzgerald has confirmed that disability funding has been diverted to the roads programme.

The scale of the disability funding diverted is to be made known at a council meeting next Monday.

Ms Fitzgerald also reveals that there has been an overspend of €500,000 on the €1.3 million budget on retirement gratuities as staff retire early.

Ms Fitzgerald links it to the Minister for Finance stating in his supplementary budget last April that retirement lump sums, which are currently tax free, may become taxable in the December budget.

The overspend has contributed to the council facing a €3 million deficit for the year.

This places the council on a collision course with the Department of the Environment, which in a recent circular states that council expenditure and income must balance within the year.

Ms Fitzgerald writes: “Difficult decisions have to be made to ensure that the forecasted deficit of €3 million for 2009 can be reduced. This will require further reduction in expenditure levels to be implemented in the latter months of the year if the council is to limit the shortfall this year.”

Ms Fitzgerald also outlines the collapse in development contributions through planning applications for the first six months of this year – €600,000 was received, primarily relating to older developments, compared with €3 million received during the same period in 2007.