€20m in arrears owed to council

A TOTAL €20.3 million in arrears of rates, water charges, housing rents and housing loan repayments was owed to Clare County Council at the end of 2013.
The council’s unaudited Annual Financial Statement for 2013 also shows that the local authority ended the year with a €643,000 surplus on a total revenue expenditure of circa €104.4 million.
The last time the council recorded a surplus of €72,000 was in 2012 and up to then there was a period of deficits.
Of the rates arrears totalling €8.9 million at the year end, the sum of €0.7 million was collected in the first three months of 2014; €1.7 million refers to vacant properties and amounts owed by companies in receivership, examinership or liquidation.