Cash-strapped Waterford County Council, already struggling under stringent cuts imposed by government, must somehow manage its affairs with an additional €2.5 million slashed from its budget in uncollected development charges.
And the effect of the missing millions must be gauged in the knowledge that, despite all of the authority’s cutbacks to date, no dent has been made on the County Council’s 2010 deficit of €6.9 million.
The figures have emerged on foot of a request by Independent County Councillor Joe Conway, who sought the information through Tramore Town Council, of which he is also a member.
“I initially asked for the figures relating to the town of Tramore for the years 2004 – 2010,” said Cllr Conway.
“But to facilitate the County Council Executive, I agreed to amend my request to cover the Tramore Electoral Area for a period that represented the boom as well as the bust years.”
Cllr Conway said he was aghast by the revelations and was left wondering what further cutbacks the public would face as a consequence.
“The figures point up a year-on-year slippage in collection of the development charges and one has to ask how that was allowed happen,” he commented.
Cllr Conway had personal experience of the regulations being applied and wondered why it had not been “done across the board”.
