Council is told to stick to its cuts timeframe
CASH strapped Sligo County Council has been it must stick to its targets set out in its financial plan even though Chief Executive had pleaded for an urgent need to review the timescale in which the target of € 12.32m revenue account surplus can be achieved.
And, it has also been revealed that the council has missed out collecting years of rates from two windfarms.
The matter arose after Assistant Secretary of the Department Paul Lemass wrote to the council in response to Mr Hayes’ plea for a review of the plan’s timescale.
Mr Lemass said the Department remained unconvinced that the plan cannot be achieved over the timeframe envisaged through a combination of both revenue growth and cost reduction.
In his letter to Chief Executive Ciaran Hayes Mr Lemass said: “It appears that the windfarms in question have been in operation for several years, but have not been brought to the attention of the Valuation Office by Sligo County Council.”
He said the Department estimated that the two windfarms would yield approximately € 115,000 in additional rates income for the Council.
Mr Lemass also pointed out that the Council had a statutory obligation to provide information on new commercial developments to the Valuation Office and he emphasised that there was a strong case for the Council to undertake a review of commercial properties to ensure that they are on the valuation list.
He said that statistics provided by the Valuation Office showed only four new entries on the valuation list for county Sligo during 2016. He said the number appear low, particularly when compared with revisions carried out in neighbouring local authorities – 13 in Leitrim, 35 in Roscommon and 27 in Longford.
“The question arises as to why they were not submitted for revision by Sligo County Council given that they have been in operation for such a long time,” said Mr Lemass.
He suggested that in light of this there appears to be a strong case for the council to undertake a review of commercial properties to ensure all relevant properties are on the valuation list.
Councillor Declan Bree has called for a full investigation and report into the matter.
Cllr Declan Bree described as “shocking” the contents of correspondence relating to the matter sent to the Chief Executive.
“It appears that potential income amounting to hundreds of thousands of euro has been lost to Sligo County Council because of the failure of the Council management to have new commercial properties valued for rates purposes,” Cllr Bree told the “Sligo Champion”.
Cllr Bree said Mr Lemass, indicated that two windfarms have only recently been valued by the Commissioner of Valuation.
Cllr Bree said he found it shocking that that the Council management had failed to advise the Valuation Office of the commercial developments.
“The Council is up to its eyes in debt. It has little or no money to provide services, or to provide financial assistance to residents associations and community groups yet, at the same time it has been missing out on collecting hundreds of thousands of euro annually in commercial rates. Where else could this happen but in Sligo?” he asked.
“I am calling for a full investigation into this debacle and I have today submitted an emergency motion on the issue so as it can be addressed at next Monday’s Municipal District committee meeting of the Council.
“This matter needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency so as to ensure that all relevant properties are on the valuation list,” said Cllr Bree.