County's €6 million pot of household charges isn't guaranteed for local services

By SIOBHÃÂN HOLLIMAN THE €6 million expected to be generated by the collection of the €100 household charge from Co Galway households will not be ringfenced for spending on services for the county. While the charge has been introduced on the basis of funding local government, there is no guarantee that it will provide any boost to Galway Co Council's annual budget. The controversial charge will be put into a central fund to be dispersed among all of the country's local authorities and the Environment Minister has ruled out the idea that money collected locally would be spent locally. [private] It's estimated that there are about 90,000 households liable for the charge in Galway city and county but that only a small percentage have registered for, or paid, the new charge. The deadline for payment is in just over two weeks' time and a last minute surge in payments is expected, despite the ongoing campaign for the public to boycott the charge. Galway West Deputy Noel Grealish says Environment Minister Phil Hogan has ruled out any question of the money raised from Galway householders being reserved for local services alone. The minister has confirmed to the independent TD that local authorities won't be allowed to keep the money collected from the household charge in their areas. The only way the funds will go back to local authorities is through next year's grant payments. He said this method allows the funds to be equally distributed 'ensuring that those local authorities with lower populations than others do not suffer unduly as a result.' Galway Co Council has a budget of €136 million for 2012, a reduction of 5.5 per cent on last year - but most of this is generated locally and given by government. Grant is falling The Council received €30.45 million from the Local Government Fund this year and the amount has been falling significantly over the past number of years. Since 2008 Co Galway's slice of the centralised fund has been slashed by a whopping 25 per cent and it was cut back this year by just over seven per cent. 'I'm calling on other politicians in Galway to stop spreading the idea that the charge will go back to the city and county councils, when Minister Hogan has confirmed to me that this will not be the case,' remarked Deputy Grealish. He feels it is very unlikely that either of the local authorities in Galway will see any increase to their annual budgets as a result of the new charge. A source within Galway Co Council says many of his colleagues are viewing the introduction of the charge as a 'disaster' and that it is has been causing huge problems for the local authority. Galway's local authorities have placed adverts in the local media in recent weeks in an attempt to encourage members of the public to pay the charge. 'The money paid by a Galway household could end up anywhere in the country. It's not clear at all how the Minister intends for it to filter back into local communities. It appears to be just another form of raising taxes,' added Deputy Grealish. While registration forms are available from the city and county councils for the charge and payments will be taken by local authority staff, they have nothing to do with processing the payments. Any payment taken is simply posted on to the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA), which is collecting the charge centrally. [/private]