Mitchell annoyed Greystones District only getting half funding of other areas. Wicklow Council Budget not fit for purpose.

Wicklow County Council will be holding its Annual Budget meeting on the 29th November and for the first time in 20 years a Councillor I will not be supporting it. The other areas, Arklow, West, Brays budgets are €9m each, Greystones District is €4.5m. The population of each area is similar. Each other area has 2 or 3 times as many staff. Yet the Local Property Tax income is highest in Greystones due to higher house prices. It’s being used as a Cash Cow by the rest of the County.

Also the Chief Executives report shows that less than 2% of the County Capital spend is spent in Greystones which has 18% of the population.

As an Accountant I understand that difficult choices have to be made in a budget which is why I have always supported it. After 5 years of asking for proper funding for Greystones, last year the Chief Executive made it worse with the area getting the least increase of any.

This results in the ludicrous situation of a €50,000 street sweeper being kept in the depot because there are no staff to drive it!

The area is expanding fast and a lot of work is needed to cope.

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