LIMERICK County Council is to cut spending across the board by more than €3.4million this year, according to the 2013 draft budget estimate.
City Councillors are also due to vote on their 2013 budget this week, with a five per cent drop in business rates being the main item of change.
Cutbacks will be imposed on the County Council’s roads department and fire service with regional road maintenance and improvement funds expected to be slashed by almost €1m.
THE fire service will see spending cuts of almost €323,000 in 2013 from a total spend of over €6.6million this year.
There were mixed blessings for the county’s business community as a freeze in commercial rates was countered by a rise in water charges that will see an extra 10 cent charged per 1,000 litres of water.
The budget did offer some good news, however, with €100,000 allocated to help promote and develop tourism in the county, which according to Limerick Local Authorities manager Conn Murray would “help to ensure the county remains an attractive location for new and existing investment”.
Similarly, Limerick City Council has allocated €500,000 which will attract matching funding for marketing Limerick as the European City of Culture in 2014.
There is also cash ring-fenced to find a permanent home for the Jim Kemmy Museum which is now temporarily based in City Hall.
The city’s five per cent rate cut is the biggest decrease sanctioned by the council and it is hoped it will go some way towards leveling the playing field between the city and the outlying shopping centres.
Speaking ahead of the budget meeting this week, Mayor Gerry McLoughlin said that the rate cut was a “significant boost for trade in the city”.Referring to the funds set aside for the City of Culture promotion, he told Limerick Post: ‘We are taking the promotion of this year very seriously.”
In County Limerick, commercial rates were frozen for a seventh consecutive year, with the county’s business charge remaining among the lowest in Ireland at 59.91cent per euro of valuation.
In his budget report, Limerick Local Authorities manager Conn Murray said the County Council must have “realistic expectations” in the wake of “an exceptionally challenging year”.
He stated: “The main focus in 2013 will be to continue to deliver services as efficiently and effectively as possible under extremely difficult circumstances.”
