Council house tenants face 100 euro hike in annual rent

Donegal County Council is proposing an increase in rent for its tenants which will equate to over 100 euro per house per year.
It is just one of the measures proposed in the Draft Budget for 2013 which will be decided on by County Councillors when they meet next week.
The council currently maintains just over 3,000 houses in over 222 individual Housing Estates – there are a further 770 individual houses provided.
The council says that it spends significant funds on improving energy efficiency of its vacant stock which was in the past part funded by Government grants.
However it is expected that the level of income from grants next year will be significantly reduced if available at all.
With that in mind, and given the level of vacant housing stock the council has, the council is proposing a rent increase of 2 euro per week on all its rented properties.
The gross revenue spend by the council next year will be 15 million euro less that in 2012.
Housing and Corporate is sliced by 9 million, Roads and Transportation by 3 million and Finance and Emergency by 4 million.
Spending on Water and Enviromental remains steady while Community, Culture and Planning sees an increase of almost 2 million euro.