Meath County Council is to increase its efforts to collect the controversial household charge after its projected income of €21,684,996 from the Government's Local Government Fund was cut by almost €2.6 million.

The move has forced the council to enter a process of re-examining budgets and commitments in all areas of its budget for 2012 to see what, if any, savings or deferments ccan be made in the current year. The Local Government Fund allocation is being cut because of the Meath's councils failure to collect 48 per cent of the household charges said to be due to it.

The council said that the importance of achieving the maximum possible of compliance with the household charge was now "very apparent".

To read the full story see this week's Meath Chronicle