The Cathaoirleach welcomed everyone to the Boyle Municipal District Budget Meeting for 2020.

Martin Lydon, Head of Finance presented the Chief Executive Report regarding the General Municipal Allocation (GMA) and Draft Budgetary Plans for Boyle Municipal District for 2020.  He outlined that the total proposed General Municipal Allocation (GMA) for 2020 for the Boyle MD area was €941,072.

This LPT increase at the last Council Plenary meeting on the 23rd September allowed for an increase of €597,000 (29%) in funding from 2019 across all MD areas.  This is largely funded by the increase in the LPT of 15%. 

Mr. Lydon detailed that the decision taken to vary the LPT basic rate upwards by 15% allowed for the following additional items to be included in the GMA for 2020:

·         Community & Enterprise MD Fund (Boyle area €85,000) for distribution by members has been reinstated to 2018 levels. A new governance model and scheme for allocating funds will be produced.

·         New funding to be included for street cleaning. Due to recent changes in Road Grant rules costs such as street cleaning previously charged to grants now have to be supported from increased LPT funding.

·         Additional funding has been allocated to Local Roads at the request of the members.

·         Funding has been granted to assist Tidy Town programmes and combat illegal dumping. These services are no longer funded from grant allocations.       

Discussion took place amongst the members with regard to the need for Central Government funding to be reinstated for rural counties such as Roscommon and the dissatisfaction of members with the onus being put on smaller Local Authorities to come up with funding locally.

On the PROPOSAL of Cllr Michael Mulligan

SECONDED by Cllr. Valerie Byrne.

It was AGREED to send a letter to the Oireachtas members seeking additional funding from Central Government to properly meet service and resource demands of Roscommon County Council.

Mr. Lydon also outlined that the Corporate Policy Group considered the apportionment basis for roads expenditure and opted for the option which is based on 33.3% Population, 33.3% Km Road, 33.3% Condition.  The members discussed the need for local roads funding across the Boyle MD area and the need for additional funding for a number of local road’s projects. Shane Tiernan, Director of Services detailed that Local Authorities have limited capacity in relation to discretionary type expenditure with the majority of costs being non-discretionary in nature and being reflected in the Plenary Council Budget as opposed to the municipal districts’ draft budget plans. He outlined that when the Plenary Council budget has been formally adopted a schedule of municipal district works will be prepared and submitted to each municipal district for consideration with regard to the allocation of funding for the roads network. Cllr Tom Crosby stressed the concern of residents and the community with regards to speeding and traffic movement through Tarmonbarry. He sought traffic calming measures including a pedestrian crossing. Shane Tiernan Director of Services stated that as this is a national primary route the TII  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.18