Finances are ‘going in the right direction’
INITIAL figures are showing that Sligo County Council has brought in a revenue surplus of ¤1.6million last year.
It’s the third year in a row that the Council has returned a surplus.
There was praise all around for the turn around in the Council’s finances.
Cathaoirleach Councillor Seamus Kilgannon said “people would be jumping up and down if it was a poor audit. It’s good, this is our third year of a surplus.”
Since 2015 Sligo County Council has returned a surplus of ¤4.5million with the aim of a further surplus in 2018, according to Chief Executive Ciaran Hayes.
He said cash flow had improved and a lot of that was down to the management of finances by Head of Finance Marie Whelan.
Ms Whelan said the turn-around was the result of “efficiencies, reduction in the Council’s cost base and improved income collection.”
“It’s a welcome change to the annual deficits of ¤2-3m of previous years and the exceptional ¤8.5m deficit in 2013. Income from Housing Rents has increased as has Housing Loans while the momentum in Commercial Rates collection has been maintained,” she told members.
2018 is not without its challenges: the Council must repaying principal and interest on its capital loans at a cost of ¤500,000, recruitment has started again and Brexit looms.
Cllr Joe Queenan complimented the CE: “We’re going in the right direction.”
Cllr Declan Bree agreed: “We are going in the right direction.”
Cllr Bree proposed a motion to find out details and costs of a number of legal cases mentioned in the audit report “where adequate provision has not been included in the accounts.”
Chief Executive Ciarán Hayes said it was not possible to divulge that information before the legal cases were concluded. Cllr Bree’s motion was agreed, that the information would be provided subject to legal advice.