SDLP Ballyarnett councillor Rory Farrell
Financial support from Stormont via the Rates Support Grant, which aims to assist the north’s poorest councils, was slashed from £2.9m last year to £2.2m this year.
Addressing Council’s Governance & Strategic Planning committee, the Ballyarnett representative said:
“It’s a budget cut and there’s no other way to dress this up. Last year, we got nearly £3 million in the Rates Support Grant and it has been cut by £750k this year.
“There are three options here. One, the minister reinstates the funding. We need to impress to Minister Hargey the importance of the Rates Support Grant for the poorer councils across the north.
“But the abject failure of the minister to engage with the seven councils impacted does not fill me with confidence at all.
“The second option is we raise £750k through a rates increase of over 1%. And that’s just to stand still.
“And that’s ignoring the other pressures that we’re going to face next year regarding a pay award, National Insurance contributions, inflation and our ambitious list of capital projects.
“I don’t think the people across Derry and Strabane can afford that.
“And the third option is that we cut costs. We slash spending by £750k to make up for this funding loss. And to put it into context, Halloween which was absolutely amazing and well done to the team behind it, costs less than £600k.
“That shows the magnitude of what £750k, what this budget cut actually means to this council.
“So, the minister needs to engage with our council and the other six councils that are impacted. She needs to meet the chief executives, she needs to meet the chief finance officers. And she needs to do it quickly.
“People do what’s important to them. People will duck and dive issues that they don’t want the deal with, and this needs dealt with.”
