2020 Council Budget Overview

The dlr Annual Budget 2020 commits to an investment of €193 million in the delivery of services for the County next year, an increase of almost €10 million on 2019 and which equates as a spend of approximately €885 per person in the county.

The annual revenue Budget provides funding for a very broad range of services from road, cycle lane and path maintenance and converting our streetlights to energy efficient LEDs and expanding provision of EV charge points, to enhancing our parklands and sports and community facilities, as well as providing business support grants and staging high quality cultural events. In fact the Council provide over 700 different services to the residents, businesses and visitors in our county! In preparing the dlr Annual Budget, we must consider, hand in hand with our statutory obligations, our delivery of the Council’s corporate objectives and balance the varied needs of individuals. This is an indepth process, involving many months of consideration due to the amount of services areas that the Council are involved in. The operating environment for each annual budget must be considered as part of the County Councils deliberations including consideration of economic conditions which continue to remain strong in 2019 and is expected to remain robust for 2020.

The budget provision focuses on the maintenance and enhancement of existing service delivery levels. It also provides for housing maintenance, grants and developments, business supports designed to foster economic development, and assist us in attaining best practice in climate action policies, enhance the public realm and support our vibrant communities. The Council prides itself on the quality of its public realm and the cultural and recreational facilities it provides.

Housing will remain centre stage and we continue to be one of the country’s leaders in terms of innovation. The first cost rental development in the country will be in dlr as well as being leaders in energy efficiency and housing design which is evidenced by the awards for Georges’ Place from the SEAI and the Irish Council for Social Housing. Housing maintenance and adaptation grants have been allocated almost €10 million with an additional €3.85 million for homeless services.

The Council is obliged to run a balanced budget each year and income and expenditure must match. In order to ensure the balance and the delivery of services, Budget 2020 provides for a commercial rate increase of 3.5%. A full range of business supports have been retained for 2020 including the business support grant, which benefits eligible commercial rate payers, which number approximately 85% of all rate payers. Following on from this years adoption of our Climate Change Action Plan 2019-2025, our Budget 2020 will allow for increased spend on specific climate action initiatives, including the appointment of a dedicated Climate Change Officer who will lead and co-ordinate the goals of our Climate Change Action Plan. The adoption of this Budget for 2020 signals the Councils continuing commitment to providing an innovative, high quality, accessible public service to all.