Tuam councillors adopt district budget for 2017

Galway Bay fm newsroom – Tuam area councillors have voted to adopt the district’s draft budget for 2017.
Councillors have been presented with suggested allocations for the area’s discretionary funding at a meeting at County Hall today.
The district will receive over 6.2 million euro of the overall council budget of over 27 million euro for 2017.
A number of councillors expressed their relief at what they described as a relatively fair budget – following a controversial decision to increase the Local Property Tax across the county by 10%.
Councillor Peter Roche said he was glad to see that the tough decision made by councillors to increase the LPT means the local authority will be able to maintain services for the people of Galway.
Councillor Shaun Cunniffe raised concern over the format of the draft budget.
He said it’s difficult to get a full picture when councillors are only provided with expenditure figures, and not income figures.
Councillor Mary Hoade asked if there were any contingency funds in place, in the event of another bad winter.
Director of Services Liam Gavin told her that contingency funding is included in the overall county roads budget to cover flood damage or emergency works.
The draft budget was proposed by Councillor Donagh Killilea and seconded by Councillor Peter Roche.
Councillor Shaun Cunniffe said he could not accept the budget as it stands – and he proposed that the budget be rejected until income figures and information on commercial rates are provided.
However, his proposal failed to receive any support.
After 50 minutes of discussion, the Tuam area councillors adopted the draft budget without any amendments.