The financial position of Waterford City and County Council continued to improve in 2024. There was a surplus of €313K achieved, which increased the cumulative general reserve to €472,000. 2023 was the first year since the Merger in 2014 that there was a positive general reserve reported.
Overall income increased by €24 million to almost €204 million in 2024 versus 2023, a 13.5% increase.
The figures were broken down at yesterday’s Plenary sitting of the local authority in Dungarvan.
A significant amount of the increased income from grant funding related to €12 million of grant income that was paid to local Businesses across the County. There were variances, both positive and negative, across most operational areas such as the fire service, street cleaning, library service, Archive services, economic development, Tourism, and the Arts program.
There were material variances in some areas of operation, including housing maintenance, where there was an overspend of over €3 million, regional and local road maintenance with an overspend of €1.5 million, environmental services incurred an overspend of €1.6 million, transfers to capital of €3.4 million were also noted as being necessary to fund the capital program.
There was a significant overspend on festivals, and there was an unbudgeted provision of €1 million against a loan issued to Mount Congreve during the year. However, Waterford Council says these variances were more than offset by savings elsewhere, further releases from Debtor provisions, and increased income, resulting in a surplus of €313K for the year.
Section 104 breakdown
A detailed breakdown under Section 104 of the Local Government Act 2001 highlighted both positive and negative variances across divisions. While housing & building saw a €7.25 million overspend, this was more than offset by €10.46 million in extra income, resulting in a net positive variance of €3.2 million. In contrast, roads, environmental services, and economic development showed moderate deficits after income adjustments, yet these did not derail the overall financial position.
| Division | Overrun (Expenditure) | Income Variance | Net Variance |
|---|---|---|---|
| A. Housing & Building | €7,255,079 | +€10,462,000 | +€3,207,000 |
| B. Roads | €1,636,419 | –€296,000 | –€1,932,000 |
| D. Economic Development | €10,220,428 | +€9,328,000 | –€892,000 |
| E. Environmental Services | €1,693,197 | +€633,000 | –€1,060,000 |
| F. Recreation & Leisure | €734,063 | +€591,000 | –€142,000 |
The Council had a small overall deficit of €821K, meaning they did not completely balance. However, this is relatively minor (less than 1% of the total additional spending), and some of the over-expenditure was offset by higher-than-expected income.
Waterford City and County Council ended 2024 with a balanced and healthy financial position, generating a €313K surplus.
The total unexpected income across all divisions was €20.72 million, mainly from Housing and Economic Development — these two divisions received the vast majority of the additional income.
Even though this extra income helped a lot, the total overspending was slightly higher, €21.54 million, leading to a small overall deficit of ~€821,000.
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