The CEO of Galway County Council has sounded a note of warning to councillors about the cost of providing two hours' free parking in county towns. It had been previously agreed that this initiative would be put in place over the coming months, as part of an effort to help ailing local businesses. However, speaking at this week's council meeting, CEO Kevin Kelly told local representatives that the cost of giving free parking could see their Notice of Motion money reduced.
Mr Kelly said that there would have to be a reduction somewhere in the roads budget to cover the loss of income from the parking initiative. He outlined the various reductions to each of the six municipal districts across the county as potentially totalling a whopping €538,000. Mr Kelly said he was not specifying this reduction would come from Notice of Motion money, but it would have to come from somewhere within the roads budget.
NOM money is prized as it is allocated to each of the 39 councillors to be spent on local services of their choosing. The money usually goes towards work such as minor road improvements and hedge cutting. A number of councillors reacted angrily to the idea of this money being cut.
Ballinasloe area councillor Michael Finnerty - who was one of the proposers of the two hour free parking initiative - was incensed. He accused council officials of using scare tactics to try and dissuade the free parking initiative from going ahead. "When all else fails, the scare card is played. We'll take Notice of Motion money of you, that is the scare ticket. It is all a game, just pull a figure from the sky and scare the councillors. Well we're not for turning, our towns are dying on their feet, the businesses need some help."
Councillor Finnerty said he had a proposal that would allow for the two hour free parking which would not cost the council anything to implement. He said it was possible for the pay parking machines around the county be recaliberated to allow for the free period. For example, if you place 20c in the machine and this usually covers you for a half an hour's parking, it will then cover two and a half hours. Cllr Finnerty then produced proof of this in operation, by showing parking tickets from 2013 when this was in place in Ballinasloe.
Sinn Féin's Tom Healy said it "spoke volumes" that when councillors ask for a technical solution to the problem of pay parking they get a budgetary threat from officials.
Councillor Pat Hynes labelled the proposal to take money from the roads budget as totally unacceptable. "It is a further erosion of our discretionary spending powers."
Cllr Michael Fahy said to lose some Notice of Motion money for the sake of the free parking would be 'diabolical.' He was concerned about the lack of help from Europe for small rural towns. "I have heard nothing from one of our MEPS since they got elected- what are they bringing back from Europe - nothing. We are promised everything before an election and get nothing after it - if the towns dies, the country dies with it."
Tuam based Karey McHugh said councillors had a chance to do something for business in small county town's that were being strangled by rates "and all we are concerned about is ourselves and our Notice of Motion money.''
Fellow Tuam representative Donagh Killelea said he would like to see the free pay parking piloted for two months. "Instead of projecting the cost let's see the actual cost?"
CEO Kevin Kelly remarked that he had to present the budget on an annual basis and he could not predict what the financial outcome of the free parking scheme would be.
Fianna Fáil's Michael Connolly said that instead of arguing about the Notice of Motion money, councillors should be focusing on the real issue - the fact that funding for road maintenance had not risen since 1997 - despite the increase in costs and inflation, and that people were now paying stealth taxes they had not been paying before. "We as a council need to be putting more pressure on Central Government to send us down more money to run this county.''
It was decided that it would be up to councillors in each municipal district if they wanted to implement the free parking scheme and take the resulting cut to their roads budget.
