€700,000 reduction in Council funding
Local Government Funding for Waterford is expected to drop by about €700,000 next year. City Manager Michael Walsh estimated the likely 10% deficit at the local authority’s monthly meeting on Monday, telling councillors that he would not know the overall financial position until later in the year. “However there are strong negative indicators that levels will reduce by about 10%”, he said.
Tall Ships visit to cost city €3.5m
The return of the Tall Ships in 2011 will cost the city approximately €3.5m, the City Manager has said.
At Monday’s meeting of the local authority, Michael Walsh said the Council would be making budgetary provision to provide a little over €1m of this cost – as it had done on previously hosting the Tall Ships in 2005. The rest of the necessary funds would be sought from central Government, with applications set to be made in the coming months.
Free parking at Regional Sports Centre
Free parking is to be made available to Christmas shoppers at the Regional Sports Centre during the festive season. In a bid to boost accessibility to the city centre for shoppers, Cllr Cha O’Neill is proposing to make the RSC available to those who wish to park and then walk or take a bus into the centre.
Graffiti out of control
Graffiti in the city centre has gotten out of control, Cllr John Cummins told Monday’s City Council meeting. He particularly mentioned areas of Cathedral Square and the Mall, adding that the Council needed to ‘take the bull by the horns’ and clean up the city.
Cllr Mary Roche suggested the Council liaise with the Courts Services with a view to engaging people on community service orders in removing the graffiti.
‘Can’t cover city in banners’ – Wyse
A zero tolerance policy must be adopted by the City Council when it comes to the Ard Ri site overlooking Waterford, Cllr Gary Wyse has said.
Reacting to a proposal that a banner – perhaps advertising the Tall Ships or Christmas in the city – be used to cover the Ard Ri in the interim period, Cllr Gary Wyse said ‘we can’t cover the city in banners. We are painting a very poor picture of our city.”
1,000 jobs to go in city
Approximately 1,000 jobs are to go in the city in the New Year, Cllr Dick Roche reminded Monday’s meeting of Waterford City Council.
Cllr Roche said many of these jobs, including over 300 at Teva Pharmaceuticals and about 180 at ABB Transformers, had been announced during the year but their impact would really be felt in January. He asked the Council to urgently organise between MABS, the Social Welfare and the HSE to expedite any delays that may arise when processing these claims.
