Waterford Council has been granted an additional two million euro to help pass a budget this year.
It's after extensive lobbying by Waterford Oireachtas members, Councillors and the management of the local authority.
Waterford Council is down €3.3 million after the revaluation of Irish Water rates.
Last month CEO Michael Walsh wrote to the thirty-two members of Waterford Council explaining that following a revaluation of global assets (particularly rates owing by Irish Water) and the reapportioning of figures according to population, which is commonplace for all other utilities; Waterford Council were going to lose €3.2 million in revenue.
In his letter, he stated that 'a budgetary impact of this scale can only be resolved through a cut in services of real consequence or by way of significant rate or rent increases of disproportionate scale'.
The council needs to pass a budget before the end of the month with Councillors due to meet next Friday.
Fine Gael Councillor John Cummins announced the news this morning saying his colleague Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoghan Murphy has granted Waterford City & County Council an additional €2 million to assist in the budgetary process.
He added "As with every budget, challenges always arise, such as the €1.2 million shortfall we faced a couple of years ago due to another revaluation of global utilities, in that case, telecommunications. The current shortfall while challenging is now commensurate with that figure following our increased subvention of €2 million and I am sure there will be a vast array of opinions on how that gap should be closed".
Cllr. Cummins concluded by saying "There is nothing unusual about difficult budgets, in fact, our income from Irish Water (separate to rates) has dropped by €3.2 million over the past five years while our housing maintenance budget, for example, has increased by €985,000 over the same period. Difficult decisions always face the pact of the day but positions come with responsibility. Over the past decade when we were members of the controlling group we always managed to pass a balanced budget; only time will tell what will happen on Friday 29th November.
