Minutes of the Annual Budget Meeting of Kilkee Town Council held on Monday December 3^rd 2007 at the Sweeny Memorial Library, Kilkee

Cathaoirleach sa Chathair  

• Cllr P J Lardner

I láthair     

• Cllr. PJ Linnane
• Cllr. Tom Nolan
• Cllr. Brian Keane
• Cllr. Michael McGrath
• Cllr. Claire Haugh
• Cllr. Carmel Deloughery

Apologies 

• Cllr. Lily Marrinan Sullivan
• Cllr. Michael Martin

I láthair   

• David Timlin, Town Manager / Director of Service
• Derek Troy, Executive Engineer
• Siobhán O'Keeffe, A/Town Clerk

David Timlin, Town Manager presented the draft budget for the year ended 31^st December 2008 showing a total estimated expenditure of €82,135, estimated income of €5,450 and net estimated amount to be demanded from Clare County Council at €76,685.

A/Town Clerk, Siobhan O'Keeffe advised that following the pre budget meeting in November she wished to clarify the following;

• There is no cap on rates since 2005. The maximum increase applied to rates for Kilkee Town Council has been 3%.
• The €2000 allocation in the 2007 Budget for Conferences has been expended and exceeded. The total spend has been €2,182.04. A/Town Clerk, Siobhán O'Keeffe advised that the over expenditure resulted from agreed attendance at two additional tourism related conferences in light of the loss of the Shannon- Heathrow service.

Cllr. Tom Nolan advised that prior to adopting the budget he was seeking a commitment that ½ of the monies levied in parking charges in Kilkee should be allocated back to Kilkee for amenity projects.

David Timlin, Town Manager advised that this issue was the subject of a notice of motion and referred to Item 6 at the December meeting. It was agreed to discuss item 6 now.

Cllr. Nolan said that he felt it would be much more beneficial if a sum, which was budget neutral, was available at the beginning of the year for project development and that it should be spent at the discretion of Kilkee Town Council.

This request was supported by Cllr. Claire Haugh and Cllr. PJ landner.

David Timlin, Town Manager said that it came down to resources and assured the elected members that he was doing everything at county level for resources for Kilkee. He stressed that funding for services provided by Clare County Council in Kilkee, such as roads, water, housing, beach & amenity etc far exceeded the monies collected in parking fines. He also referred to the opportunities for funding that arise on an ongoing basis e.g. UVR scheme, NDP Tourism Product Development, and that it was a question of being ready to make an application when funding is announced. He said that if the elected members wished to pass this motion he would take it to the head of finance for consideration. He stressed however that there is strict legal obligations on both the town and county councils in accounting and budgetary practices.

After further discussion the following resolutions were passed having been proposed by Cllr. Tom Nolan and seconded by Cllr. Claire Haugh

"That pursuant to Section 103 (7) of the Local Government Act, 2001 the Draft Budget as presented by the Town Manager is hereby adopted"

"That this Council hereby determine in accordance with the Budget 2008 that the amount set out in Form 2 and Form 2 - Table 1 (Amount to be Demanded €76,685) to be the amount to be demanded for the year ending 31^st December 2008"