Council cuts €1.25 million

Lord Mayor John Buttimer took a voluntary cut of 10 per cent in his salary last night at Cork City Council, as City Manager Tim Lucey cut €1.25 million from departments and projects across Council. 

The cuts were in response to the returns from the city for the Household Charge, which comes in at approximately 54 per cent. According to the City Manager final reminder letters are being sent out this week to this property owners that have not paid. The withholding of funds by the Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan TD, is due to be reassessed by the Department in October. 

Areas that have seen significant cuts include roads and housing maintenance, as well as parks and recreation and general administration.

Sinn Féin were deeply critical of the cuts, especially in relation to the suspension of boiler checks for the rest of 2012, something that Cllr Thomas Gould described as "highly dangerous." 

"I'm calling on the Manager to reverse the decision to cancel the servicing of boilers for 2012," said Mr Gould.

Some people's boilers  have not been serviced for three years and a lot of the stock of boilers that City Council has in houses would not be news. I'm concerned about the decision for health and safety. You're advised to get it serviced at a minimum of every two years."

The Council pays an average of €50 per boiler checked with the bulk discount for the 8,500 houses on the books. 

The fire services emergency provision of €25,000 has also been cut along with community education projects. The emergency provision was there to deal with any initial costs that arise in case of situations.

The Christmas in Cork Festival was also cut by €50,000 while the Manager insisted that a significant budget still remains for the festival at €225,000. 

The Library book buying budget for the rest of 2012 has been suspended while a 10 percent cut across contributions to community organisations and the Arts has also been implemented. Those groups who had already received their grants for this year will see an adjustment in 2013.