Mayo County Council this year has paid out €200,000 in overdraft payments to a bank while it awaits a payment of €9 million from central government to pay for sanitary projects in the county. Head of finance for Mayo County Council Peter Duggan gave members the information this week when delivered a financial report on the council’s expenditures and incomes up to the end of September this year. At the meeting the members later approved the extension of the council’s overdraft facility up to €35 million to the end of 2011. The breakdown of the overdraft was €30 million for the capital programme and €5 million for the revenue account (day to day running costs ).
The news that the council still had to receive such a large payment from central government while paying out a huge amount of money on interest for the overdraft was greeted with anger by a number of councillors. “It’s disgraceful that we are waiting for €9 million from the department while we are paying this interest,” Fine Gael whip Cllr Joe Mellett told the meeting. Ballina Cllr Michelle Mulherin said it was “shocking” that the council has to wait so long for this money. “Are we crossing our fingers and hoping that the polluter pays contribution will be less rather than more?” she asked. “We look to be on an unsustainable path. Central government has crippled us, because we are on a the tail end of projects, unlike places like Greystones which got projects funded 100 per cent from central government before the polluter pays principle came into effect.”
As part of his report, Mr Duggan told the members that the council had budgeted for an expenditure of €136,326,749 for 2010 and up to the end September it had spent €95,915,303 or 70.38 per cent of the budgeted expenditure. On the revenue side of things the council had budgeted to receive €136,326,749 and so far had received €96,133,130, or 70.52 per cent of the total expected revenue. Mr Duggan told the meeting that the revenues were broadly in line with the budgeted targets, but warned the members that 2011 was going to be a very tough year.
