WCC Yearly Budget Shafts Greystones Again

Rainy days…

t’s something we’ve addressed here before, and a constant battle for our local councillors.

Seemingly a victim of its own success, Greystones is largely a cash cow for Wicklow County Council, and yet we get stuck with the lowest annual budget.

So, while we witness yet another few hundred houses piled on top of our crippled infrastructure, all the money made from such insatiable planning is deployed pretty much everywhere in the county but here.

Says, Cllr Derek Mitchell of today’s announcement, “As before, we are much the lowest spend. Arklow & West have over twice as much. This year, Greystones’ funding is 63% below the average, having been 51% below for the last two years.”

Given the population boom that comes with those hundreds upon hundreds of new homes, Mitchell points out, “one would have thought that management would have increased the budget to cope. Management have in fact directed the increases to other areas.

Analysing today’s budget based on the spend per person from the 2016 census, Mitchell notes that the expenditure per capita 2021 for Arklow is €372, Baltinglass €371, Bray €254, Wicklow €274 and Greystones €176. Full graph here.

Finishes Mitchell, “Wicklow County Council are not serious about managing the large growth in Greystones…”