Inheriting Omagh debt will hit future investment in County
Julie Kenwell • Published 9 Feb 2012 09:30
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"HARD decisions" on cutting services lie ahead for Fermanagh District Council if Central Government does not address the issues of rate convergence and legacy debt posed by the Review of Public Administration (RPA).
Those were the fears voiced by the Council's Chief Executive Brendan Hegarty when the Draft Programme for Government was discussed at the latest Council meeting.
As the new rates for the County in the coming year were adopted, Mr Hegarty said substantial reductions had been applied to the budget to keep rates low.
He added however that in years to come, hard decisions would have to be made due to the various pressures in local government, "notwithstanding our concerns for the rate convergence and legacy debt".
And as councillors raised concerns that shouldering the legacy debt of Omagh District Council could hinder future development for Fermanagh, local rate payers were urged to "wake up" and realise that they could be paying up to 20 per cent more on their district rates if the current proposals to reform aren't changed.
It's been no secret that Fermanagh District Council stands to be the biggest loser if it is to amalgamate with it's heavily indebted neighbour in 2015.
A general principle in the Reform Programme was that the transition to the new arrangements should not create an increased rate burden.
But in 2010 a rate modelling exercise carried out by the Department of Finance and Personnel in conjunction with the Department of Environment identified that the reform process would have a differential impact on ratepayers in the existing council areas, most notably the Fermanagh and Omagh cluster.
The model indicated that while Fermanagh could face a substantial increase in their rates, Omagh could potentially benefit from a reduction.
In a letter of response to the new Draft Programme for Government, Fermanagh District Council has outlined its concerns that this legacy debt could "negatively impact on the new Council's ability to invest in the future".
"Ratepayers in Fermanagh will be required to subsidise a larger level of debt per head of population post Reform, and this could impact on the ability of the new Council to invest in capital infrastructure in Fermanagh," says the Council's response.
Enniskillen Town councillor Frank Britton told Monday night's council meeting that while Fermanagh District Council's level of debt stood at around £4 million, Omagh had over £10 million of debt.
"That means ratepayers in this County will take on £5 million of Omagh Council's debt," he said, "I know I certainly don't want it, and I'm sure no one else in this County does either."
Fellow Town Councillor, Robert Irvine warned that Fermanagh would be "smashed in 2015".
"RPA is supposed to bring increased powers to Local Government but Central Government is not prepared to put any capital money in to kick start it. It is telling us, "We are reforming you and you are going to have to cough up for it". It's like turkeys voting for Christmas.
"All the rate payers out there, domestic and commercial, need to wake up to the fact that if it goes ahead they will be paying up to 20 per cent more to pay off aggregated debt and it will affect our credit standing for future developments. "Unless something is put in place to change this, Fermanagh is going to be smashed in 2015."
The Chief Executive told the meeting that along with it's response to the Programme for Government, the Council was also seeking to meet with local MLA's to address them on its concerns for the legacy debt and rate convergeance in the near future.
This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 09 Feb 12
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