SHADOW OF AUSTERITY HANGS OVER YOUGHAL TOWN COUNCIL BUDGET 2012 – By Christy Parker

A budget meeting bent on hope but beset with reality has seen Youghal Town Council adopt a commercial rate of €65.31 in the euro for 2012. The figure, noted town manager Patricia Power, equals the 2007 level and compares to a Cork County Council rate of €74.74, or “a subsidy of 12.6%” as the manager put it.

Introducing the draft budget, Ms Power bemoaned the unrelentingly harsh economic climate that makes it so difficult to maintain even core services with reduced resources. To avoid stifling growth, she said she where practical she had strived to maintain local charges at 2009 levels, but warned that “significant reductions and prioritisation of work across all areas will be required” for 2012. To illustrate the difficulty, she proceeded that a massive 32% since 2008 had seen the Local Government Fund fall from €878,642 to €414,871 for this year.

The year that was…

Reflecting on 2011, the manager Youghal Town Council had spent €236,544 on resurfacing or repairing seven local roadways. Additionally Cork County Council had spent approximately €400,000 resurfacing the town centre. Other infrastructural projects included: restoration work at the top of the Jail Stops, for which the Heritage Council provided €60,000; the nearly completed Youghal Town Council section of the Eco Boardwalk at Claycastle, costing €271,000; the installation of Outdoor Exercise Equipment throughout the town, with the Dept. of Tourism, Culture and Sport in conjunction with the National Lottery coughing up €12,709. Also, Youghal had secured €400,000 from the Department of Tourism, etc. for Aura Leisure centre. Consequently newly constructed wind turbines would help existing energy saving facilities meet 90% of the swimming pool’s energy needs, while disability toilets were built on the 1st floor.

Capital Programme 2012-14

Ms Power’s report also reflected on the three-year Capital Programme, which is distinct from the budget. This will accommodate Stage 4 of works on the Town Walls at a cost of €40,000. She also set aside €25,000 towards the R634 (town’s northern entrance) major improvement works to be conducted with Cork and Waterford County Councils and €30,000 for footpath repairs. These projects and figures would be repeated through 2013 and 2014, subject to review, while other projects may appear.

Best of the rest

Within the budget, positives for the year ahead were outlined thus: i) €3,000 provided to accommodate variations to the National Flood Relief Guidelines and to the Housing, Retail and Core Strategies; ii) An increase of €5,000 to €15,000 in the grant to the Chamber of Commerce, largely to facilitate the hiring of a Tourism Development Officer for six months; iii) The Tidy Towns to receive a €3,000 increase to €8,000 following two successive annual bronze medals and increasingly proactive contributions to Youghal; iv) €12,000 towards the restoration work on the Diving Rocks, which is expected to re-open by the end of April, though minus the diving board; v) €15,000  towards a painting scheme for South Main Street to help regenerate the area, as was practiced in North Main Street and Church Street; vi) Claycastle Pitch and Putt Club gets €2,000 towards its prestigious hosting of the 2012 National Championships next June. A further €7,500 is being provided to assist its Clubhouse project which has stalled since 2008. This would enable the club to source funding to complete the project; vii) the success of the Enterprise Centre is rewarded with a €20,000 grant towards the €100,000 revamping of four outhouses into artist/artisan workshops, with management company Hatherton Ltd to fund the remaining sum; vii) €25,000 has been granted to the Youghal Socio Economic Development Group (YSEDG) towards the restoration of the Clock Gate which is expected to be completed this year; vii) the reduced development charges introduced in 2011 for new and stalled developments will extend through to 2013, after Cllr Sammy Revins’s proposal that it be extended by a further year after 2012 was unanimously supported.

Opposed

The budget’s adoption faced a stumbling block when Sinn Féin Cllr Michelle Hennessy, supported by party colleague Eoin Flanagan, declined to support it due to provision being made for potential revenue from the €100 Household Charge.

Town clerk Liam Ryan had said the issue was still very vague but the charge was being collected centrally by the Dept of Environment –possibly through county councils- with the revenue to be re-distributed to local authorities during the year. The hypothetical income to Youghal, based on a thousand properties paying the money, was €100,000. Cllr Hennessy said she vehemently opposed the charge, with families hard pressed enough from various austerity measures and so she would not support the budget.

The town clerk said there needed to be an alternative proposal if the draft budget was being contested. Cllr Hennessy suggested withholding €100,000 from the €685,000 County Charge. Mr Ryan said the County Charge –like the household charge- was a statutory requirement and so her proposal. Fianna Fáil Cllr Mary Linehan-Foley unleashed a white elephant when she reasoned that the council would be dissolved if the budget was not passed, although the majority support for the thing rendered its adoption a certainty anyway. Still, the elephant commanded attention for ten minutes of relevant consternation. Cllr Linehan-Foley proceeded that she too opposed the household charge, but her priority was the provision of services to Youghal and its people. Fine Gael Cllr Michael Beecher concurred.

Labour Cllr Tara O’Connell called for “a legal alternative” proposal, sparking Cllr Hennessy to respond that Labour had supported bailing out bondholders. Mayor Eoin Coyne (FF) said it was not the council’s duty to introduce the household charge but it was its duty to make provision for it. He suggested Cllr Hennessy was opting for the easy option of opposing the budget while leaving her colleagues to carry the can for adopting it. Fianna Fáil Cllr Revins said the way to oppose the household charge was to decline to pay it as private individuals. The town clerk and Cllr Barbara Murray (FG) argued that dissolving a town council could suit the aspirations of Environment Minister Phil Hogan, in his deliberations over the future and worthiness of such bodies anyway. Ultimately- as was inevitable- the counter proposal to reject the budget was defeated 6-2 (Green Party Cllr Liam Burke was not in attendance).  The elephant trundled off.