Athenry Oranmore 2017 budget passed amid heated scenes at County Hall

Galway Bay fm newsroom – Athenry Oranmore councillors have adopted their district budget with amendments following a heated debate at County Hall this afternoon.
A number of proposals and counter proposals were put forwards after it was revealed that the district is to receive just over 2.3 million euro of the total council budget of over 27 million euro.
It took just under two hours for the Athenry Oranmore district councillors to come to agreement on yet another controversial district budget.
The district is to get around 2.3 million euro in discretional funding for 2017.
That’s just over 8% of the total county budget.
The draft document led to heated scenes in the council chamber, as a war of words broke out among councillors who had different views on whether to adopt or reject the budget.
A number of representatives voiced their disappointment at the relatively small amount of money being allocated to a district with a high population density.
Councillor Jim Cuddy said the council’s recent decision to increase the Local Property Tax by 10% has ‘gone down like a lead balloon’ in the Athenry Oranmore district.
Councillor James Charity agreed, and says the residents of the region are now essentially subsidising the rest of the county, as Athenry Oranmore accounts for around 20% of the council’s LPT income.
The proposals put forward by various councillors included a proposal to accept the budget as it was presented – however this was subsequently withdrawn by Councillor Peter Feeney.
A second proposal by Councillor James Charity to reject the budget was replaced by a proposal to reject with a condition that the council executive would examine the possibility of distributing funds based on population density.
Councillor Jim Cuddy says allocating just 2.3 million euro to one of the counties most populated districts is completely unfair.
Following a lively 2 hour debate, councillors voted to adopt the district budget for 2017 with amendments.
These amendements include a proposed increase in funding for burial grounds and recreation.