North Kilkenny Councillor Mary Hilda Cavanagh warns services and grants may need to be cut

A local Councillor is warning those in north North Kilkenny that there will have to be cuts to services and grants next year.

The Municipal District of Castlecomer is meeting this morning at County Hall to look at its Budgetary remit for discretionary funds for next year.

Cllr Mary Hilda Cavanagh says rising costs for the local authority means that there will be less money to go around in 2023, telling KCLR News; “The cost of electricity, costs of heating etc is gone through the roof and it’s impacting hugely on county council finances so we’re left with a black hole in our finances and we have two choices; cut expenditure or raise the rates, it’s as simple as that and it’s a dreadful, dreadful choice to have to make”.

She adds there will have to be cuts to funding for sporting and community groups; “The allocation that we normally get, about 50,000 to each municipal district, will vanish, funding that we’ve been given to maybe soccer or the GAA will vanish etc etc, cutbacks have to come somewhere, we’re very tied into what we do about 37% of our expenditure is salaries, that that has to be paid, salaries have to be paid anyway”