Council cuts costs by €9m in year

Slashing mobile phone bills, postage, overtime, conference expenses, banning first-class travel, and reducing its wage bill enabled Cork County Council to save nearly €9m in the past year.

County councillors were told yesterday major savings were made across the board.

County manager Martin Riordan said total savings from Apr 1 last year to Mar 31 this year amounted to €8,963,677. Slashing overtime and staff allowances saved €934.543 and curbing the use of consultants a further €2,550,558.

The council’s outdoor machinery bills and its postage bills were reduced by €938,467 and €191,197, respectively, with the latter achieved through the use of more electronic communications.

Councillors and staff also had conference and seminar allowances cut by €100,190.

Changing mobile phone suppliers and tariffs saved €74,580 and the council decided to axe paying for a number of publications such as journals, which saved it an additional €60,000.

The local authority also cut its advertising budget by €160,132 and reduced travel and subsistence payments to staff and councillors by €400,000.

Significant savings have also been made annually on staff wages since 2008.

At the end of that year, the council employed 2,915 people. There are currently 2,147 staff — a reduction of 768, or 26.34%.

Mr Riordan said: “I want to publicly say that the [Croke Park] agreement is working and delivering significant savings and [our] staff are fully co-operative with it.”

However, he said more savings would be required in the years to come as the Government would likely continue to cut grant aid to local authorities.

“It’s important to let the public know what savings are being made.”

Council officials provided a detailed report on each area of savings.

Cllr Paula Desmond (Lab) praised staff for a huge effort, especially as they were having to plug gaps due to the 26% drop in employment numbers in the organisation.

Fine Gael councillors Michael Hegarty and Michael Creed said paying €60,000 for periodicals and other publications “seemed inordinately high”.

Mr Riordan said a rigorous assessment had been made of every periodical, journal, and other publication and “effectively a line put through them all”.

The manager said staff regularly had to attend meetings in Dublin but no longer got first-class tickets.

“That includes me as well,” he said.