Greystones’ WCC Budget Still Arse

I can see your overpriced house from here…

espite the protests over previous Wicklow County Council budgets for the Greystones area, it would appear the golden goose has once again been well and truly plucked. 

That this particular patch of Wicklow provides a huge chunk of their budget for the entire county doesn’t stop the council short-changing us again, again and again.

And again.

A strong voice against the regular shortfalls,  Cllr Derek Mitchell has done some number-crunching on the latest Greystones budget.

I have analysed the council’s 2022 budget and found, once again, that Greystones is being used as a cash cow.

Greystones receives 40% less expenditure than any other of the 5 areas.

€190 spent per person as against €369 in the West and €288 on average.

I will not be voting for the overall budget unless moves are made to correct this.

Management have justified this in the past saying some years are up and some down. A 5-year analysis shows this is wrong; the underfunding is consistent.

They also stated that the underfunding is due to less housing. Analysis shows this is also wrong as all other expenditure, excluding housing, is underfunded by the same amount.

Management agreed to analyse the staff by area in January but this is not available. The latest figures being 2019 when other areas had at least 2.5 times the staff.

Also the Capital Expenditure in Greystones is a quarter of any other area even though area populations are similar. A lot of work is needed to cope with all the new houses and many projects are needed.

On the plus side, WCC management are working with Hasbro to bring out a special Monopoly: Wicklow Edition, where you can put as many houses as you like on streets in the Greystones Municipal District area. But no hotels.