Call to slash mayor’s salary to €35k
As Cork City Council prepares to cut spending in roads and housing following an €11 million drop in funding, the Sinn Féin party leader on the council said the lord mayor’s payment should be reduced to €35,000 — close to the average industrial wage.
Cllr Chris O’Leary, who is chair of the council’s finance committee, also demanded:
- The €6,000 payment to the deputy lord mayor be abolished.
- A complete moratorium on all conferences which will cost the city €145,700 next year.
- The scrapping of the €10,000 payment to councillors who chair four Strategic Policy Committee meetings a year.
“Abolition of these payments would save €200,000 over a full council term of five years,” Mr O’Leary said. “The lord mayor’s salary of €114,200 should be reduced to €35,000, close to the average wage.
“In the current economic climate there is no excuse for paying someone this kind of money to fulfil a purely honorary position.”
He said the 2012 budget will see cuts to housing maintenance, road resurfacing, and staffing.
He added: “This is simply unacceptable. These areas have taken the brunt of cutbacks in recent years and cannot be squeezed any further. The fact is there are other areas in the council’s budget where we could make savings without reducing services to the public.”
As well as cutting these payments, Mr O’Leary cited the spending of up to €50,000 on renting vacant offices and the spending of up to €4.5m on the hire of machinery as areas which should be targeted
He said: “For example, two floors of Abbeycourt House, leased by the council for €50,000 a year, are currently unused.
“The council should audit its properties and sublet those which are not in use if it cannot get out of the lease.”
And he said some €4.5m was spent on machinery — much of it on plant hire — in the last year.
“Frequently the council hires staff along with machinery from contractors, even though it has qualified staff of its own,” he said.
“The local authority could follow the example of private companies which have cut their costs by purchasing machinery rather than hiring it. This would pay for itself within two to three years and reduce overheads,” he added.
