Fingal sets €333 million budget for 2023

Fingal County Council’s 2023 budget has been set at €333 million, an 11 percent increase on last year.

At a 10-hour meeting last week, councillors agreed to a budget which represents an expenditure of €1,013 per head of population.

Energy costs are budgeted to rise by €4.5m in 2023 while payroll costs will increase by €9.2m which includes the recent public sector wage agreement.

An extra €4.8m has been provided in the operations budget which will mean extra funding for works programmes, parks and open spaces, public conveniences, and solar bins.

There is an increase of €8.2m in the housing budget which will go towards additional housing delivery through Approved Housing Bodies and Rent Assistance Schemes.

An additional €1.9m is being provided as funding for community centres and community groups.

Overall, 47 percent of the council’s income will come from commercial rates with grants providing a further 27 percent.

Rents make up seven percent, while five percent comes from Irish Water, three percent from the Local Property Tax and 11 percent from other sources.

The Mayor of Fingal, councillor Howard Mahony, said that “given the challenges that lie ahead it is extremely positive that we have been able to increase our budget by 11 percent and ensure that we continue to deliver our services to the public.”

The council says that the 2023 budget was prepared “within the challenging circumstances caused by the ongoing international geopolitical and economic uncertainty” and aims to maintain and enhance “the delivery of key services.”

Housing and building accounts for 30 percent of the budget with the council managing and maintaining over 6,400 homes in 2023.

The local authority is also expecting to deal with 15,000 maintenance requests and provide an annual service for around 5,000 home heating installations.

Expenditure of €2.5m has been budgeted for homeless services.

Fingal County Council Chief Executive AnnMarie Farrelly said: “I want to thank the elected members.

“We have worked hard with them over the past few months to come up with a budget for 2023 that takes into account the uncertainty that lies ahead while at the same time ensuring that we continue to provide a high level of service to our citizens and businesses as well as investing in the infrastructure around the county.”

Overall, €100.9m has been allocated to housing and building, €38.6m to road transport and safety, €21.4m for water services, €29.6m for development management,  €53.7m for environmental services, €62.8m for recreation and amenity, €1.6m for agriculture, education, and health and welfare, and €25.1m for miscellaneous services.

Councillors also agreed to leave the Annual Rate on Valuation (ARV) unchanged for 2023.