Laois county budget soars past €100 million with big spends revealed

The annual budget for Laois County Council to keep the county running has rocketed past €100 million for the first time ever, by a huge margin of €18.1 million.

Councillors met and unanimously approved the 2024 budget at county hall on Monday, November 12.

That cash is merely to keep existing services running. It does not include money to be spent building new roads, houses or other big projects, with that budget to be revealed in February.

The big ticket spends in the county for 2024 continue to be housing and roads, with €30 million budgeted to maintain each sector, a big jump of €9mfor housing.

New for 2024 is a special €200,000 kitchen and wiring replacement budget for older council houses, to be met by the extra rental income from new council houses built in recent years.

Gerry Murphy , Director of Services for Finance gave a breakdown of the budget.

He said Laois County Council now owns over 2,000 social homes, which it expects will bring in rents of €8.27m next year, up from an expected €7.54m last year.
“We expect €730,000 more from rents," he said.

An extra €2.34m will be spent on Laois County Fire and Rescue Service, following strikes and renegotions of pay by the service this year.

The council expects to more than double the amount on housing grants it gives out, from the €2.2m budgeted last year, to almost €5.8m next year.

The CEO John Mulholland outlined what he called the “sizeable increase” in his 2024 budget.

“The budget will be €113.88m for 2024. That is an increase of €18.1m, or 18.8%.

“We expect an acceleration on spending for vacant and derelict properties, reflecting our heavy pipeline of housing provision.

“There is an additional €100,000 for relets, and €200,000 to replace kitchen units, worktops and the like.

“We have made steady progress with 415 families or applicants housed on the list in the current year. In addition we assisted 200 HAP applicants.

“In the last five years, about 300 applicants have been assisted to get homes and 804 of those houses are new builds,” the CEO said.

Businesses will have the same deals in place to support them to stay open.

“There is no proposal to increase business rates, and we will continue our incentive schemes. They affect about 89% of rate payers,” Mr Mulholland said.

Councillors all welcomed the big budget, but some urged energy retrofits for rural council maisonettes, and more support to help rural shops stay open.

Cllr Paddy Bracken said there are maisonettes in poor condition in Mountmellick.

“We have people in them who are elderly and vulnerable, in fuel poverty in poorly insulated houses. They served our county in hard times. It's sad to see you still haven't focused on them in a retrofit program,” he said.

Cllr John King who proposed the approval of the budget, and said rural shopkeeperes should qualify for social welfare.

“I welcome no increase in rates. Small shops in rural areas could have turnover of only €10,000 a year. They should be in receipt of social welfare, they are keeping businesses open to keep life in rural villages,” he said.

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He said housing is the biggest issues for Laois, followed by climate change.

Cllr Marie Tuohy was one of several praising a new budget for community projects for SOSAD Laois, the Order of Malta, Post 27 UN veterans and Dove House.

Together with tidy towns projects, the groups will share in €424,000 of funding in 2024, up from €242,000 on community grants last year.