Local authorities in the west are being discriminated against in comparison with local authorities along the east coast, because the government will only provide 75% funding for Capital Projects.
That’s the strong view of Charlestown based Sinn Féin Councillor Gerry Murray.
The Councillor is calling on the Government to introduce and equalization fund, similar to that applied for Local Property Tax, or to revert to 100% funding for essential Capital Projects.
Councillor Murray says the reality at present is that Mayo County Council, like many local authorities along the west coast, are reaching their borrowing capacity trying to come up with the 25% additional funding, and as a result essential Capital Projects are stalled.
While Government announced with great fanfare a billion euro Rural Capital Development Fund, it failed to highlight that the drawdown on any of that funding is dependent on a local authority coming up with a quarter of the funds needed for any such development.
At the monthly meeting of Mayo County Council, Councillor Murray highlighted what he termed as “discrimination against many local authorities in this region” accessing necessary Capital Funding.
Afterwards he spoke to Midwest Radio News Editor Teresa O’Malley about the impact of Government raising the local authority contribution to Capital Projects – from zero to 25%:
