Council issues warning over cutbacks in services

A stark warning has been issued by the head of Galway City Council – unless commercial ratepayers in arrears ‘pay up’, everyday services such as street cleaning will be cut in 2016.

The hospitality sector was again singled out as being a significant debtor.

Chief Executive Brendan McGrath confirmed to councillors that unless income targets for 2015 are met, “corrective action” will be needed when he prepares the upcoming local authority budget for next year.

He said that while there was movement on commercial rates arrears, the rate of payment was “well below that anticipated”.

Cllr Padraig Conneely (FG) said the situation was worrying as it re-occurred every year and it was not improving.

“What’s the problem with Galway that we’re struggling year after year? It looks like there’s going to be a reduction in the budget [next year’s Council expenditure]. What are you doing to collect them?” he asked.

Head of Finance, Edel McCormack said the rates bill for the year was €35 million, and the Council has collected €16.1m to date – up €700,000 on the same date last year.

She said there were arrears of €15.5m at the start of the year, and it is expected to be at €14m by the end of the year.

Ms McCormack explained that the ‘legacy arrears’ accumulated during the downturn. The Council had agreed payment plans with debtors and was now attempting to revisit these plans with a view to increasing payments.

“There was a significant issue in the hospitality sector in the downturn. We are now coming into a buoyancy period for them; town is buzzing, hotels are booked out.

“We have a very robust debt collection team. We’re in court once a month. We haven’t left a stone unturned. We’re running arrears down all the time,” she said.

Mr McGrath said the vast majority of rates debtors are “engaging” with the local authority and appealed to those who ae not to get in contact.

“They’ll find us a very reasonable local authority to deal with.

“If we don’t meet the targets in the budget, corrective action will be needed,” he warned.