Councils ‘must freeze charges’

ENVIRONMENT Minister Dick Roche yesterday warned local authorities that it will be unacceptable to increase charges to the public in order to fund pay increases due next year under benchmarking and national wage agreements.

Mr Roche said he expected all local authorities to achieve greater efficiencies as a “quid pro quo” for increased funding announced in the 2005 Estimates yesterday.

The minister said he expected major savings could be obtained through the delivery of more efficient services as he believed no public body was operating at 100% of its capacity.