District budget is agreed in minutes

WEXFORD Borough District will receive funding of €372,500 next year.

The funding known as a General Municipal Allocation (GMA) is used primarily for the provision of local supports to local communities; minor road works; recreational activities and tourism, heritage and local development projects.

In total Wexford county will have discretionary funding of €1,257,500.

Wexford Borough received the largest allocation in the county followed by Enniscorthy (€301,000), Gorey and New Ross which each received €292,000.

The total GMA allocation for 2017 is at the same level as 2016 with the slight exception of realigning the roads element in the Wexford district to ensure all 34 councillors have the same allocation.

Head of finance Annette O’Neill said that the ‘amount a local authority can provide by way of a GMA is dependent on the total level of income available to it and the non-discretionary costs that must be met as a first call on that income, including at municipal district level’.

She went on to say ‘ the total amount of GMA provided must be allocated by the Chief Executive to each municipal district in a matter that is fair and equitable. In doing so, the Chief Executive must consider the resource needs; where appropriate, the population; and should make an allocation that is transparent, just, not arbitrary, and provides a minimum level of discretionary allocations to all districts.’

The lions share of the €372,500 allocation for the borough will be spend on general improvement works for the local roads (€87,500) and recreation and amenity projects (€175,000). Of the €175,000 earmarked for recreation and amenity projects a total of €50,000 will be used for sports and recreational community grants with each member getting €5,000 to dish out and €125,000 for festivals, concerts and festive lighting.

€24,000 will be spent on housing estate management which includes grants to residents associations etc and €10,000 will be spent on litter control initiatives which includes planting and hanging baskets. €16,000 will be spent on development management. €4,000 of this is allocated to tourist facilities operations for the promotion of the district while the remaining €12,000 will be spent on town twinning initiatives.

€20,000 will be spent on the school meals programme; €10,000 on local representation and civic leadership with the final €30,000 classed as discretionary GMA funding.

The members agreed on the budget without discussion.