Annual Budget 2009 - Roscommon County Council

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