Coyne seeks ‘cutbacks across the board’ as Westmeath in red

WESTMEATH officials are counting the cost of a difficult year as independent auditors reported a deficit of almost €250,000 for 2011.

A deficit of €248,712 was incurred, with annual accounts revealing €80,000 owed by a former team sponsor been written off.

The figure was included in last year’s accounts but registered auditors BDM Financial and Accounting Limited have admitted “it is not considered likely that this sponsorship will be received and it has been written off this year”.

A loan to the county hurling board in excess of €60,000 has also been written off while Lake County top brass were hit with a bill of over €33,000 for medals, which is not an annual expense.

Taking the write offs and medal amounts into account, Westmeath county board treasurer Denis Coyne points to a ‘net’ loss of €78,000, which he admits is a worrying figure.

“We wouldn’t want to be losing anything next year.

“Cutbacks are needed all over the board,” he said.

“Funding from Leinster will be cut by 10% next year and we’re also facing a cut in Central Council funding. We’ll have to take all of that into consideration and be very prudent in our dealings.”

Coyne explained the county board has decided to write off the figure of €80,000 owed by former sponsor, which the Irish Examiner understands to be the Hilamar Hotel in Kinnegad, due to the fact he has just one more year to run as treasurer.

“I don’t want to leave the burden on the treasurer next year.”

Spending on the preparation of Westmeath’s various inter-county teams has fallen for a second successive year.

In 2010, expenditure dropped by e150,000 from the whopping figure of €413,618 reported in 2009.

And the spending on Lake County’s teams is down again this year, from €264,654 in 2010 to €252,843.

“We’ve reduced capital spending and spending on county teams but how much more can you do? We can’t keep cutting all of the time but players and everybody are aware that it is a tough time in the economy.”

One of the more worrying aspects to emerge from Westmeath is that gate receipts from local hurling and football matches is down by some €87,000.

The Westmeath hurling board reported a slight net profit of €3,673 for the year, while the full county board accounts show a drop in income of €147,436 this year, down to €420,410 from the 2010 figure of €567,846.