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Rates rise to meet expenditure

This article is from page 30 of the 2007-12-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 30 JPG

RATES will be increased by three per cent in Shannon next year, to meet a projected increase 1n expendi- ture by the town council.

Total expenditure is expected to rise from €137,715 to €165,500 next year, according to the draft budget presented to town councillors by Town Manager, Ger Dollard last week. The single biggest increase in spending will be for the community scheme.

This initiative incurred costs of €14,500 this year and this will rise to €35,000 in 2008. Under the com- munity scheme, a focus is placed on litter removal and the general envi- ronment in the town.

Funding for civic receptions will drop from €5,200 to €3,200. The figure for this year was elevated on a “one-off”, due to Shannon celebrat- ing its 25th birthday, said the man- ager.

The mayor’s award, for which €700 was presented to a charity last year, will not feature in 2008.

Mr Dollard said the decision to discontinue this was because “it has been diverted to a charity” when it was initially geared towards the community.

“We have increased the contribu- tion to community initiatives so there is no loss to the community,” he said.

The current mayor of the town, Cllr Sean McLoughlin (FG) said he had

agreed to this award being removed during his year-long term as mayor of Shannon.

Looking ahead to 2008, Mr Dol- lard expressed optimism that signifi- cant progress will be made on imple- menting the master plan for the town and the creation of an arts centre.

He also stated that the tidy towns committee will again receive €2,000 in funding from the council, while an increased provision will be pro- vided to cover the costs of the twin- ning initiative between Shannon and Guingamp in France.

The long-awaited recycling centre which was opened during the sum- mer was welcomed by the commu- nity in Shannon.

Mr Dollard said, “It is evident that

there are demands for an increase in the range of services provided at the rerun AYAae

Reacting to the budget outline, Councillor Gerry Flynn (Independ- ent) said, “I had hoped the budget would have been that bit bigger.”

Cllr Sean Hillery (FF) said the council “should be involved in some commercial exercise. We should try and created some means of generat- ing some kind of income.”

Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Independ- ent) pointed out that many young people are unable to build detached homes on individual sites.

“That is something we could be looking at in the future much more actively than we have been doing,’ she said.

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