Cork County Council cuts back after boundary shift

A major reduction in rates as a result of Cork City’s boundary extension has forced Cork County Council to cut its budget for running services to €338.4m next year.

The council’s rates revenue is expected to drop next year from €133m to €110.6m as a result of the city taking over areas such as Glanmire, Blarney, Ballincollig, Douglas, and Rochestown.

The overall budget for 2019 was €344m. Lorraine Lynch, the council’s head of finance, said the local authority was taking €2.3m out of its reserves to balance the books.

The council’s reserves have gone down in recent years from €18m to €7m, as a result of it having to prop up services when government grant-aid was drastically reduced during the recession.

To balance the 2019 budget the council had to dip into its reserves to the tune of €3m.

Council chief executive Tim Lucey said a decision taken recently by councillors to increase local property tax (LPT) by 5% would enable the council to increase funding for the operations of its municipal district councils.

The increase will bring in a projected €26.224m in overall LPT for 2020.