'Austerity budget' on the way as €8m hole opens up in Limerick's finances

MAYOR John Moran has warned Limerick is heading for an “austerity” budget as an €8m deficit opens up in the public finances locally.

And he has said nothing is off the table in terms of raising the commercial rate on local businesses, or reducing front-line services to the people of Limerick as happened during the recession.

In that time, there were reductions to services like roads among other things.

“We have an obligation to deliver a balanced budget,” the mayor insisted.

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“We are going to have to talk about things like rates, and everything else we had the conversations about, again.”

The directly elected mayor has published a list of “concerns” around which areas will need to see increased spending next year, as things stand.

Among these is an increased spend of €800,000 in public lighting and €400,000 more for closed-circuit television.

“This budget is a ticking time-bomb. What I have pointed out is we are facing a very perilous situation in the budget for Limerick,” Mayor Moran told councillors.

“If you add up the numbers, we are heading for a deficit in Limerick City and County Council. You can either raise that with more income or you can cut services,” added the executive mayor.

Other areas of big spend, he highlighted, are the repayments which council will need to start making to the European Investment Bank on the loan it took out to get the Opera Square development on the road.

This will cost the local authority around €1.25m-per-year.

Some €3.2m earmarked for tackling unoccupied homes could also be in trouble, as the original source of funding for that is no longer available, he added.

Mayor Moran said this work was funded from the repayments of a loan which was given to Limerick Twenty Thirty for Troy Studios.

The commercial rate is always a talking point around budget time.

In effect, it’s a tax levied on the owners of commercial and industrial properties.

Increasing that charge is always politically unpopular.

The executive mayor is seeking to preserve a budget of between €500,000 and €1m to upgrade the Theatre Royal at Cecil Street in the city centre.

On top of this, he wants €1m for a ‘game cube’ in the city centre.

News of the budget cuts came at the close of a stormy meeting, where Mayor Moran was taken to task on comments he made on Live95 around Christmas in Limerick.

Fine Gael councillor Daniel McSweeney questioned the first citizen on the hiring of consultants from Grant Thornton into the local authority - an initiative which Limerick Live understands cost almost €300,000.

Mayor Moran pointed out Grant Thornton staff were hired to help “schedule out” his mayoral programme.

He said their work will lead to a “new innovative way of increasing the efficiency and accuracy and transparency around the delivery of the whole organisation”.

Referring to the spend, he said: “I think if you want to analyse the specifics of it, you will find it is very good value for the resources”.

Mayor Moran may face an uphill battle to get his budget through, given he will need the backing of the majority of the councillors.

It’s anticipated the budget will be finalised at a meeting on Friday, November 21.