County Councillors meet today discuss and most likely adopt the council’s revenue budget for 2017.
Just over 135 million euro will be available to spend, an increase of 2.23 million euro on last year.
The Revenue budget sets out council spending in areas such as housing, economic development and the provision of services.
After a series of marathon Budget meetings in recent times, the revenue budget has been adopted over the last two years with general agreement and little controversy.
This year the council has 135 euro to spend with priority areas including to provide good value services and supports, promote sustainable economical development and job creation, promote tourism and to increase the availability of social housing.
The council’s relies heavily on commercial rates which are expected to yield 30 million euro in 2017- the small business grant scheme is to be extended in to next year.
40 million euro will be spent next year on road transport and safety, up 1.5 million euro on last year.
The Budget book notes that 66 million euro will be spent next year on council staff wages, a significant increase on last year. in 2016 the council took on 85 extra staff with up to a further 25 to be hired next year.
The council’s role in dealing with the fall out from Brexit and its potential impact on the region will also be outlined today
