‘Political gamesmanship’ over council funds

MUCH has been made of Clare County Council being deprived of €243,000 due from central government but Councillor Johnny Flynn this week claimed the complaining is “political gamesmanship” and the council was left short by a similar amount in 2010 but services didn’t have to be cut.

 

Councillor Flynn also said the council’s income and expenditure accounts indicate some room for flexibility, although a spokesman for the council claimed his interpretation is inaccurate.

Speaking to The Clare Champion, Councillor Flynn said he had asked Mayor of Clare Pat Daly to call off council meetings arranged solely to discuss the €243,000 shortfall.

“I emailed the mayor and asked him to postpone these because I felt they were wasteful of time and resources because back in 2010, the previous Government actually sent us down €240,000 less of a local government fund than was promised and there were no special meetings called. There were no street lights turned off, no libraries closed.

“As a percentage of the €47 million the Government sent us down in 2010, the €240,000 was seen as a small amount and none of us were jumping up and down. This year, the €243,000 seems to be a huge figure, so I think it’s a bit of political gamesmanship,” he suggested.

The Ennis-based councillor said Clare County Council’s accounts for the last two years offer some interesting reading and call into question some of the claims around the council’s financial situation.

“In 2010, the Government sent down €47.7m, the local ratepayers paid €35.6m and the council had total income of €114.7m. It spent €109.7m, leaving a healthy surplus of €5m. The manager has advised that the money was transferred to pay off loans and to reserves.

“Last year, the Government sent down €47.6m to us. We had income of €114.8m and our expenditure was €111.3m. We had a surplus of €3.5m. The manager outlined that these surpluses were transferred to loans and reserves.

“You can see that from one year to the another, there was a drop in the surplus from €5m to €3.5m, so I asked the manager if we’re in as healthy a situation this year and would we be in a position to meet our outgoings and would the surplus have to be transferred into meeting loans or otherwise?

“He disagreed with the way I was reading this. He said that the transfers were not something discretionary but looking at this account, which was presented to us [Clare county councillors], you can see that there were two healthy surpluses that were transferred into paying loans and reserves.

“My view is that there was €1.5m [of a difference in surplus before transfers] between 2010 and 2011 and say this year is a bad year and we’re another €1.5m down, there’s still a surplus. If there’s a surplus of income over expenditure, I think that’s a healthy situation.”

However, a spokesperson for Clare County Council disagreed with Councillor Flynn’s assessment and, in a written statement, indicated that in real terms there was no surplus last year.

“The unaudited financial report for 2011 was presented to the May 2012 meeting of the council and was noted by the council. This report showed an overall deficit of €48,000 for 2011 (the comparative for 2010 was a surplus of €113,000). The audit has since been completed. The auditor’s report is scheduled to be presented to the November meeting of the council, reflecting the results outlined above.

“The overall deficit for 2011 included the cost of repayment of loans and leases amounting to €3.5m. These loans related to various projects undertaken by the council over the years including, for example, the provision of water infrastructure, waste management infrastructure, the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Centre and council facilities.

“The accounting rules governing local authorities require that the costs of servicing these loans with the various lenders are dealt with in arriving at the overall surplus or deficit for the year.”