Cobh Town council Budget 2013

This year’s budget has been produced after much work to ensure agreement has been got from most of the councillors. From a back drop of a reduction in the government grant by €47,622 this has been a difficult task.
Cobh is a town that has a low rate base; therefore there is little scope to get extra income from that sector compared to neighbouring towns like Middleton. It has been the councils policy over the past number of years to ensure there is no increase in commercial rates. This has been difficult against a tightening fiscal situation. My fellow councillors and I were determined that the remain the same this year. I am delighted to state that we have been successful in that area. Therefore we remain to have one of the lowest rate value in the county.(71.53)

The town manager and the town clerk deserve great credit in their willingness to take on board and incorporated our views in an imaginative way in to this budget. They have worked tirelessly to ensure we have a budget we could agree with. The budget also provides for a new business start up grant .Cobh Tow council is the first town council in the country to introduce a scheme to encourage new business start ups by incorporating the new business start up grant scheme in the 2013 budget. I along with my colleagues has driven the scheme through the town council and truly reflects the role town councils can play in their own community.

It will allow new business start ups in effect a break from their first year’s rates and 50% break in year two. There are in the region of 1105 people claiming unemployment benefit in Cobh. By setting up the scheme we hope that it will be a catalyst for some of those to take a chance and try and open up there own business or to attract business people to our town to add to the ever growing choice the people  and make our town a better place to live, shop and visit.

We have also managed to maintain the allocation to many local groups, Clubs festivals, tidy towns and residence organisation. With combined sum of €33,500 we recognise the work that they do on a voluntary basis to make our town a better place to live.

There are many positives in the budget

1. Maintenance and housing repairs have been increased (from €119,560 to €127,083)
2. Public lighting  been kept in line with last year
3. Street cleaning has been increased €128,561 to €135,404
4. Tourism promotion has been maintained at last years level (€12,000)
5. Arts & Culture has been maintained at last years level €4,000
6. Contribution to local groups has been maintained at last years level (€8,500)
7. Local festivals contribution has been maintained at last years level (€9,000)
8. Burial ground upkeep has been maintained at last years level (€14,792)
9. Swimming pool contribution has been increased from €17,500 to €37,500 for work to be carried out in the facility.
10. Parks and open spaces has been increased (€79,030 to €83,964)
11. Contribution to Cobh museum has been maintained at last years level (€2,000)
12. Commercial rates have also been maintained at last year’s level.

 
Over the past two years 10 million has been spent in Cobh in connection with the Cobh Landslide program. 83% of the cost has been met by the department of the Environment with the remaining 17% been met by Cork County Council and Cobh Town Council. We have been campaigning for this investment for many years and while there has been much criticism of minister Phil Hogan I want to thank him for his commitment to Cobh by providing the funding from the department. If one looks at the amount of money collected in Cork county through the house hold charge is in the region of 7 million, and people say it goes into a black hole they are correct it has gone into a black hole on Connolly Street,East Hill, Old Street and many more streets in Cobh. I fully support the allocation of €50,000 in the budget as way of Cobh Town Council contribution. I think it could be said the town never got so much for €50,000.

There has been misinformation regarding the estimated increase in housing rents. From €631,200 to )664,479. It has been stated that the increase is due to the imposition of the property tax on to the rental income. The projected increase in housing rents in the Council’s 2013 Budget has nothing to do with any taxes or charges which may apply in the future.

In 2011 the elected members of Cobh Town Council unanimously adopted a revised Rent Scheme which applies to all Town Council tenants. The major change between the 2011 scheme and it predecessor related to how we calculate household income for rent purposes. Under the old scheme, tenants with 2 incomes paid substantially less rent than tenants whose total income was the same but where there was only 1 earner. The 2011 scheme dealt with this issue by adding the combined incomes of joint tenants and assessing their rent on that total figure. This means that tenants on the same income are now paying the same rent.

There is no provision in the Budget to increase the actual housing rent paid by any tenants in 2013 – the town clerk or  the Manager have the legal authority to change the rent scheme. If Cobh Town Council decides at some stage in the future to amend the rent scheme, this can only be done by the elected members of the Council I hope this will clarify the concerns people might have.

While many difficult decisions have had to be made I am happy that we have managed to deliver a fair budget. A budget that recognises the contribution of local voluntary groups at its core and breaking new ground in with the introduction of the business start up grant to ensure Cobh will be one step ahead of the rest in attracting jobs to the town and also encouraging people to take the first steps in to the business world.

I am happy to support the budget

Cllr John Mulvihill (Jnr)