Fingal budget seeks to hit low income households

The Fingal Draft budget was delivered to councillors a couple of days before Christmas. The Council will meet on January 7^th to adopt, amend or reject the budget. If a budget is not adopted on or before January 27^th the Council will be abolished and the County Manager will run the Council directly under the direction of Central Government.

The draft budget proposes to abolish the bin tag waiver for low income households generating €1 million in additional revenue. The budget also proposes cuts in rates for commercial premises by 10.5% or €14 million. Business owners will further benefit from an anticipated 6% reduction in water charges.

This approach means that those who will be hit the hardest are the same people who can afford to pay the least. The very people who have been hit by cuts in social welfare in the recent national budget and by the non payment of the Christmas bonus will be hit again.

If the Council was in the red I would not support an approach which sought to make those with the least pay, while those with the most are insulated from cuts. However the Council is not bankrupt - indeed it is ending 2009 with a surplus of 1.5 million euro. The cost of the bin tag waiver is in the region of 1 million euro.

This draft budget is an unfair attack on low income households – households who have already suffered from recent government cuts. I will be voting against this draft budget unless this unjust and unnecessary measure is reversed.