Council reject pay parking increase

PAY parking in Drogheda and Dundalk was on the cards to increase to €1.20 per hour, following a proposal to hike the rates at Louth County Council’s annual budget meeting on Monday until the overall budget was rejected by members.

Chief Executive Joan Martin told councillors that in a bid to provide a balanced budget she had to find additional revenue for the local authority.

She said by including this increase in the budget she was avoiding making cuts to areas such as Tidy Towns funding, library resources and festivals.

She proposed increasing pay parking charges from the current €1 rate to €1.20 per hour in both Louth towns.

In addition a €1 a day fee would apply to all day parking car parks in Drogheda. All day parking in Dundalk would remain at €2 per day.

Councillors called for greater investment in pay parking machines which were described as ‘ barely working’ to include options for payment including contactless and remote app.

The decision on whether to adopt the budget for 2019 with these increases was expected to go to a vote of council members yesterday (Monday) evening.

Just as this newspaper prepared to go to press, members voted against the proposed 2019 budget put forward by Louth County Council, which also means no change in pay parking for the time being at least.