Town Council Budget, 2007
December 20th, 2006Last night’s Council meeting saw us pass our Budget for 2007, and set the new Commercial Rate.
In the end, we passed a rate increase of 4%, which is either slighly above, slightly below or in line with inflation, depending on which metric you use. Last year’s rise, of 3%, was below most inflationary estimates by the time the year end came around.
This means that Letterkenny Town Council will spend an estimated E8.52 million in the Town next year, providing services and maintaining infrastructure, and developing new projects such as the New Town Park at Ballymacool, Extending the current Town Park, supporting events like the Donegal International Rally, Comedy Festival and Pan Celtic Festival, and completing the new Arts Centre (behind An Grianan Theatre) and the new Leisure Centre.
There is a continued provision for the CCTV programme, which has now gone out to tender and will be moving to completion during 2007. This weeks events (see this Highland Radio report) have shown again how importnat CCTV can be, and I’m delighted to see the Council throw full commitment behind this project once again.
For the first time, and following a number of motions I have put forward during the year, the Town Council budget has a heavy emphasis on Environmental issues. Letterkenny TC is taking part in the European Energy Awards, and has committed funding this year to “investigate the use of bio-fuels within the council fleet, with a view to converting same”. We will be running a campaign on efficient use of both water and energy (in the meantime, check out TapTips).
I proposed another initiative last night. In 2007, Letterkenny TC are now putting money aside to purchase “Carbon Offsets” for all official travel by the Mayor and Councillors. I believe we are the first local authority in Ireland to do this (although I stand to be corrected). The science behind these offsets may not be conclusive, in particular Tree-planting programmes, but I feel that supporting energy-efficiency programmes in third-world countries (such as these) will clearly reduce the amount of Carbon going into the atmosphere, and that the awareness which Letterkenny TC can generate locally is worth the minimal cost it will take.
Ironically, the local Green Party Councillor spoke against my proposal, on the grounds of the mixed science, but he did not oppose it or force a vote. One of my sources for information was the Green Party website.
All in all, it was a very positive budget which was passed unanimously. There has not been a digital version prepared before, but I should be able to get a copy online in early January.
The issue of the Leisure Centre at High Road was raised again last night. For some reason (I don’t know why, so I say this without prejudice) Cllr Jimmy Harte was not at the meeting, so he missed the County Manager outlining the budgetary position regarding our new E20m centre, which should be opened in the early Spring. The project is progressing as expected. Once opened, Letterkenny will have the finest range of leisure facilities, from this centre through our two massive Town Parks, LInear Parks, Walkways and new funding set-aside to develop walks along the Swilly. I’ve made my position on the High Road Leisure Centre very clear, you can read and comment here. I wrote that piece in October; no new information or proposals have come forward since then.
One final point; towards the end of the meeting, Cllr Dessie Larkin mentioned the potential for redevloping the Main Street, and encouraging shoppers and business back to the area which has suffered from the growth of retail on the Paddy Harte/Neil T Blaney Road areas. The council fully supports returning as much business as possible to the traditional Main Street, which has been the core of the town for so long. One thing that did concern me, however, was his mention of pedestrianisation. He said he felt it was something that could be tried on a “Friday and Saturday evening”. No formal proposals were put forward on the subject, and even if they were they would take some time to design, consult on and implement. I am extremely skeptical of the potential for full pedestrianisation in the area; I don’t believe the density of retail shops on the Main Street would make it sustainable. This will likely be a topic we will see raised in the year to come.