MONAGHAN CO COUNCIL ADOPTS €90 MILLION BUDGET FOR 2024 – BUT 3% RATES HIKE PROVOKES DISSENT

Monaghan Co Council at its Annual Budget Meeting on Friday last adopted an income and expenditure plan of €90 million for 2024. The drafting of the Budget was described as “very difficult” by Chief Executive Robert Burns, who said it had been “framed in the context of the continuing uncertainty of global events, leading to challenging economic circumstances and associated financial risk”. The Budget contains a 3% increase over 2023 on the ARV or Annual Rate on Valuation that is levied on the business and commercial sphere of the county, a provision which led to the Budget being adopted by majority vote with four councillors opposing its adoption.

One of them, Fianna Fáil representative P J O’Hanlon, told the Northern Standard following the meeting that his decision was prompted by the fact that the revenue to be generated by the rates increase equated to the financial provision the Co Council had made in the Budget to contribute to the cost of the proposal to construct new civic offices at a site at Rooskey in Monaghan Town. Prior to a vote being taken on the adoption of the Budget on Friday, Councillor O’Hanlon had sought to make a statement outlining the reasons for his voting stance but was not afforded the opportunity.

When approached by the Northern Standard following the meeting, the Carrickmacross local public representative stated that what he would have said at the meeting was that the 2024 Budget was very positive in many respects and represented good news for the county in many…