The Cathaoirleach Donal Kilduff welcomed everyone to the meeting.

It was noted that the meeting was held in accordance with government guidelines in relation to social/physical distancing.

Martin Lydon, Director of Services, Head of Finance presented the Chief Executive report regarding the General Municipal Allocation (GMA) and the Draft Budgetary Plans for Athlone Municipal District 2021.  Martin Lydon outlined that the total proposed General Municipal Allocation (GMA) for the Athlone Municipal District was €708,500.

The decision taken at the last Plenary meeting on the 28^th September to vary the LPT basic rate upwards by 15% allowed for the following items to be included in the GMA for 2021

• €150,000 for street cleaning
• €120,000 of funding has been allocated to the general roads maintenance budget
• €34,000 in funding has been granted to assist Tidy Towns programmes and combat illegal dumping.  These services are no longer funded from grant allocations.
• Town Team funding has been increased from €8000 to €10,000 for each of the six town teams.

It should be noted that €255,000 in match funding has been provided in the draft budgetary plan for capital expenditure projects.

Martin Lydon outlined the rationale for allocating funds.  The model used in 2020 for apportioning roads expenditure (33.3% Population, 33.3% km Roads, 33.3% Condition) has again been applied in 2021.

Funding of €35,000 in Voluntary Graveyard Grants has been split equally between the three municipal districts and is included in this year’s allocation.

There is a budget allocation of €80,000 relating to the River Suck to improve drainage and amenities.   This allocation has been included for the first time and is split between Athlone and Roscommon municipal districts.

The purpose of the draft budgetary plan meeting is to provide each municipal district an opportunity to allocate its proportion of the General Municipal Allocation to its priorities.

All of the elected members thanked Mr. Lydon, Head of Finance and welcomed the budget as presented. 

Members commented on the draft budget as follows

·         Disappointment was expressed regarding the distribution of funds and that the overall figure should be divided equally between the three Municipal districts.

·         Disappointment also expressed at the reduction in Athlone Municipal District funding by €46,000 from last year allocation.

·         The Members requested that the River Suck funding be equally divided between Athlone and Roscommon Municipal District in future.

·         The Members welcomed the increase in the town team and street cleaning funding.

·         The Members welcomed the funding for Capital Expenditure projects and emphasized the need to address the traffic issue at Cloonakilla NS.

·         The Members were grateful for the €35,000 for Voluntary Graveyard Grants and noted that some of graveyards require work and questioned if additional funding could be found.

·         The Members acknowledged and thanked the staff of Roscommon County Council for all their support and hard work.

Martin Lydon responded to the queries and the rationale on how funding was allocated including the resources available to the Council and the resource needs of each municipal district. He stated that there was limited  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.20