No guarantee on grant allocation

WHILE assurances were given to Clare County Council by Deputies Pat Breen and Joe Carey that the local authority will receive its entire General Purpose Grant Allocation from the Local Government Fund if compliance with the household charge increases, no formal guarantee has been received from the Department of the Environment.

It is understood that the local authority has received no further correspondence from the department since it was informed of the cut to its funding in mid-July.

In a statement this week, a spokesman for the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government refused to confirm the full amount would be paid if any specific level of compliance is achieved. “All I can say is that the minister has said the final amount of General Purpose Grants available for 2012 will be revisited and reviewed in Quarter 4 to take account of the then financial position, including progress on securing an increased household charge yield.  This exercise will allow for withheld Local Government Fund monies to be progressively recouped to local authorities where household charge collection rates improve in the intervening period. We’re not aware that any indicative collection rates have been suggested to local authorities.” Significantly, the council doesn’t have any access to a list of who in the county hasn’t paid. Indeed, it has been told by the Local Government Management Agency that it will be some weeks until information is available.

At the moment, the level of compliance in Clare is 62.8%, so getting above 70% would mean a reasonably large amount of people opting to pay a tax they have already, presumably deliberately, ignored.

This week, Mayor of Clare Pat Daly welcomed a statement by Deputy Pat Breen that if the level of compliance goes above 70%, the full allocation will be restored. “While the Local Government Management Agency and not Clare County Council is responsible for the collection of the household charge, I am confident the 70% compliance rate in Clare will be met and that cutbacks in services provided by Clare County Council will not occur during the remainder of 2012.”

At the meeting, the TDs indicated slightly different rates of compliance would be required, with Deputy Breen saying 70% and Deputy Carey indicating 70-75%.

However, speaking to The Clare Champion afterwards, Deputy Breen acknowledged that it may need to be slightly higher than the 70% originally indicated.