A 'relatively strong balance sheet' maintained by Kilkenny County Council
Kilkenny County Council ‘has maintained a relatively strong balance sheet as at December 2023’.
That’s according to the local authority’s recently released unaudited financial statement.
The document notes that the total expenditure incurred on the provision of services by Kilkenny County Council in 2023 was €114.4 million and the adopted budget for the year was €98.7 million.
Some 80% of the additional expenditure ‘is accounted for in Housing, Roads and Development’.
The net surplus for the year was €19,000, bringing the cumulative surplus to date to €128,000.
The bank overdraft facility was not utilised during 2023.
A significant portion of the additional expenditure in housing and roads was funded from additional grant income.
The full amount of grant allocation is not known at the time when budgets are being prepared.
The largest budget shortfall in the year was in pension costs, with expenditure exceeding budget by €1.6 million. This is a result of the number of staff who retired during the year.
This additional cost was offset by a reduction in the rates strike-off of €919,000, and additional compensation for payroll cost increases of €532,000.
The other major issue arising in 2023 was the underspend in payroll costs of approximately €1.6 million.
This was transferred to capital reserves to provide funding for the capital programme.
According to the local authority, this issue will not arise to the same extent in 2024 as many of the posts have been filled.
The total non-mortgage bank loans outstanding at the end of the year amounted to €13.4 million — a decrease of €0.8m from the previous year.
The total mortgage loan balance at December 2023 was €33.34 million, a decrease of €500,000 from the previous year.
The collection rates on commercial rates is down at the end of December 2023 to 87%, resulting in an increase in arrears by €1.7 million to €3.2 million.
“Almost 50% of this increase in arrears has been collected since January 1,” the statement notes, before adding that the local authority ‘remain confident that the arrears can be brought back in line in 2024’.
The collection rates for housing rents and loans are in line with previous years.
The total expenditure on capital projects delivered under the capital programme in 2023 was €93 million.
The outstanding balance on completed capital projects at December 2023 was €8.5 million.
The annual budget provides for repayment of this commitment over a period of up to eight years.
The council adopted a three-year capital budget for the period 2023 to 2025 in January 2023.
A draft six-year capital programme for the period 2024 - 2029 has since been considered by the elected members at last month’s March council meeting.
The estimated expenditure over this period is €832 million (excluding TII roads projects — 100% grant funded).
The match funding to be provided by the council is €70.2 million. The total funding identified is €40.8m (including €8.5 million of new non-mortgage loans).
This leaves a funding shortfall of almost €30 million.
According to the local authority, ‘opportunities for additional grant funding will have to be explored’.
The statement concluded by stating that ‘it is critical that the council continues to manage its finances in a prudent manner’.
It added that ‘the sector continues to face new challenges each year’.
“While inflationary pressures have eased somewhat from the highs of the last two years many costs remain high which presents a challenge in trying to deliver the various council services,” the statement noted.
“The draft capital programme is very ambitious and will be reviewed annually to ensure that the council has the capacity to provide the match funding.”