Kells council facing serious cutbacks

Kells Town Council is facing serious cutbacks as it tries to balance the books with a shortfall of around €50,000. A fall in expected rates, parking fees and other council income has led to a current deficit of around €50,000 which area manager, Brendan McGrath, warned would have to be made up. "Our budget is so tight that we cannot afford to go into next year with a deficit. We don't have a huge amount of discretion and we have to look at discretionary spending and spending out of our own coffers when it comes to balancing the books," he said. "We have to live within our budget. There is no opportunity to revise our budget and any remedial action necessary to balance the books will have to be taken," he said. "Every item of expenditure from the heritage centre to weekend work will have to go into the mix. If urgent corrective action is needed, we will have to take it," he warned. Mr McGrath explained that any further business closures in the town would see a further reduction in rates income that would have to be taken into consideration. At a meeting of the Town Council on Monday night, Mr McGrath told councillors that capital income was also falling with development levies so low that the money the council had been putting into a kitty to fund the sewerage scheme was no longer coming together. The meeting also heard that the town council was also under staffing pressures. While the council itself hadn't lost any staff through cutbacks, two Meath County Council staff members who had been working in the town hall in Kells had gone, which meant that staff were stretched. Town clerk, Jarlath Flanagan, said that when it came to the day to day running of the office, the extra work which resulted from the loss of the two staff was divided out among the rest of the staff. The cathaoirleach Cllr Brian Curran said they were in a serious situation with the loss of rates, loss of commercial activity in the town and loss of parking income. Cllr Bryan Reilly said they would be facing serious problems when it came to the December budget. Cllr Oliver Sweeney said there were cutbacks from central government and it was ordinary people that were suffering. "All we can do is get on the best we can," he said. Cllr Brian Collins said that during the good times, the money wasn't flowing into local government. "We had money cut in the good times and they are being cut again now," he said.