Tipperary Council debating the spending of €162 million in annual Budget today

Tipperary County Council is working towards  adopting a spend of almost €162 million for the coming year at the annual Estimates in Clonmel today.
The council will debate the Budget for a number of hours as they go through the individual programmes, but the spend is short some €1.8million as a result of the the decision of members not to maintain the local property tax (LPT) levels at the same as 2018. The net result of this effective loss of revenue is a reduction in the General Municipal Allocation (GMA) to the five Municipal District Councils – the Templemore Thurles MD refused to accept the allocation at their last meeting and returned it to the finance department for further consideration.
Chief Executive Officer Mr Joe MacGrath, and Head of Finance Mr Liam McCarthy are presenting the Budget to the council members with Mr MacGrath explaining that the estimates are framed against the backdrop of the national economic context which predicts a GDP growth of 4.5% in 2019. The implications of Brexit has also been taken into account and while employment is growing and the overall economy is approaching full employment, there has been a caution about wage pressure and labour shortages which are set to become broader issues and a constraint on future economic growth potential.
“While there continues to be a disparity in economic recovery across the country and within the county, there are encouraging signs of local economic recovery. The live register in County Tipperary has fallen by 46% in five years to August 2018. This compares with a reduction of 48% nationally. Latest figures for 2018 indicate that the live register in County Tipperary has fallen by 1,270 people, or 20%,” Mr MacGrath said.

More updates throughout the day.