Galway: household charge non-payment lead to reduction in services

n97 mini

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

If you live in the coutryside or like me in a small village we see no services anyway.

Why do you live in the country, away from all these services?

RATM

hmmm wrote: »

No cutbacks in staffing or pay of course.

This. Heard the other day on here that three managers in Cork Council are on €140k and over per year. They get paid more than city council managers in the UK who are running districts with multples of population in them.

Not a word is mentioned about their extraordinary paypackets and at the same time they love to blame cutbacks on the public.

galway2007

km79 wrote: »

I got no letter yet to pay up

they might have cut back on stamps

galway2007

n97 mini wrote: »

Why do you live in the country, away from all these services?

we were forced out by a property bubble
I have no problem paying for service that i get but i am getting none from the state.
For the childrens park in my village we had to ask the GAA for some land and we hand to raise the funds for the eqiuipment ourselves
Had anybody in the city or the big towns to do this??????????

Head The Wall

No but there was usually a contribution demanded as a condition of planning. Near my home in Galway city this could be up to 10k while half a mile down the road because it was classed as county the contribution was around a tenth of the price.

So yes people in cities and Towns did play for playgrounds etc, whether they received them is another issue

I rented, I didn't realise people were forced to buy houses

Lumbo

RATM wrote: »

This. Heard the other day on here that three managers in Cork Council are on €140k and over per year. They get paid more than city council managers in the UK who are running districts with multples of population in them.

Not a word is mentioned about their extraordinary paypackets and at the same time they love to blame cutbacks on the public.

I think you may have heard wrong. The maximum of the Director of Services/Head of Function salary scale is €106,900 gross. The only person who gets paid more then them is the County Manager and there's only one of them.

Chips Lovell

galway2007 wrote: »

I have no problem paying for service that i get but i am getting none from the state.

Really? You benefit from no local authority services whatsoever?

galway2007

Vladimir Kurtains wrote: »

Really? You benefit from no local authority services whatsoever?

Name some and i will tell u if i have them
private water
private sewerage
No broadband
Headges not cut ( we both pay motor tax)
Road need resurface not done in years
No footpaths or lights

galway2007

Head The Wall wrote: »

No but there was usually a contribution demanded as a condition of planning. Near my home in Galway city this could be up to 10k while half a mile down the road because it was classed as county the contribution was around a tenth of the price.

So yes people in cities and Towns did play for playgrounds etc, whether they received them is another issue

I rented, I didn't realise people were forced to buy houses

So i paid them 6k development fee for services that we did not get
You got a play ground we got none, so had to fund it ourselves
Do u see?

Chips Lovell

You've never driven on a road that's been maintained by a local authority? Does your car not leave the driveway? Never used a public library? Wouldn't call the fire brigade if your house went on fire? Never used a public toilet? Or put litter in a public litter bin?

runawaybishop

Vladimir Kurtains wrote: »

You've never driven on a road that's been maintained by a local authority? Does your car not leave the driveway? Never used a public library? Wouldn't call the fire brigade if your house went on fire? Never used a public toilet? Or put litter in a public litter bin?

The level of service provided to rural users is far below that of urban dwellers.

mikom

runawaybishop wrote: »

The level of service provided to rural users is far below that of urban dwellers.

Not to mention being asked to pay for them twice.......... actually three times if you were to call out the fire service

n97 mini

galway2007 wrote: »

we were forced out by a property bubble

galway2007 wrote: »

So i paid them 6k development fee

The property bubble forced you to buy a site and build a one-off?

Chips Lovell

runawaybishop wrote: »

The level of service provided to rural users is far below that of urban dwellers.

I'm not sure what relevance that has to the post you quoted though?

dvpower

runawaybishop wrote: »

The level of service provided to rural users is far below that of urban dwellers.

The collective property tax paid by rural dwellers is going to be far below that of urban dwellers.

runawaybishop

Vladimir Kurtains wrote: »

I'm not sure what relevance that has to the post you quoted though?

The 100 euro charge is a flat charge. Without trying to make an all inclusive statement it could be said that rural people feel gypped by paying the same cash for less services, especially when they have to fork out for water schemes, septic tanks etc.

dvpower wrote: »

The collective property tax paid by rural dwellers is going to be far below that of urban dwellers.

Link? I hadn't heard that.

Chips Lovell

runawaybishop wrote: »

The 100 euro charge is a flat charge. Without trying to make an all inclusive statement it could be said that rural people feel gypped by paying the same cash for less services, especially when they have to fork out for water schemes, septic tanks etc.

But for years, rural local authorities have received a greater proportion of their funding from central government than urban ones. By your logic, urban people ought to feel gypped, since they've been subsidising rural people?

As of next year, it will be based on the value of your home, which on a like for like basis, would probably tilt things back in favour of rural dwellers.

dvpower

runawaybishop wrote: »

Link? I hadn't heard that.

No need for a link.

1. Its going to be valuation based (either site or property valuation); urban areas in Ireland have higher property valuations.

2. There are far more properties in urban than rural areas, so more revenue will be generated from urban areas.

Head The Wall

galway2007 wrote: »

So i paid them 6k development fee for services that we did not get
You got a play ground we got none, so had to fund it ourselves
Do u see?

If you paid 6k then could you clarify if that is within the city or county boundary?

djpbarry

pixiebean22 wrote: »

Fire services? Do people in Galway not receive an invoice from the Fire Service for call out charges as is procedure in other counties?

Do people in Galway really think that ~€100 covers the entire cost of a fire service call out?

antoobrien

This was sold in Galway as

an “unpalatable cut” to local services and communities, including the suspension of housing grants to older people and people with disabilities and the withholding of grants for community initiatives

It appears that the emotional blackmail has worked (good, I can't stand freeloading "protests" like this)

since receiving news of the cut to its budget in July, the council has collected more than 70,000 euros in additional payments

That would mean that in the week or so since this story broke 700 home owners came forward with money that they "can't afford".

Now it's time for the council to buck up and find "efficiencies"

BluntGuy

runawaybishop wrote: »

The level of service provided to rural users is far below that of urban dwellers.

Not to be facetious, but would you not reasonably expect this to be the case?

View

galway2007 wrote: »

Name some and i will tell u if i have them
private water
private sewerage
No broadband
Headges not cut ( we both pay motor tax)
Road need resurface not done in years
No footpaths or lights

It costs money for a local authority to provide all of these. If people aren't willing to pay towards them (as has been the case in the past never mind now), then the local authority will not be able to even consider providing them so either the services wouldn't be provided at all (the roads aren't resurfaced) or private companies will have to be needed to provide the services.

People have (and are), in effect, "voted" with their wallets for the above level of services.

galway2007

Head The Wall wrote: »

If you paid 6k then could you clarify if that is within the city or county boundary?

as i said i live in county galway

galway2007

n97 mini wrote: »

The property bubble forced you to buy a site and build a one-off?

It offered me the choice to pay 315k + in the city or build my own house
There were a number of reason i built outside city but my point is i am paying for all my services
I paid €800 euro to connect water and i am on a meter and had to put in a water filter
I paid thosands for a sewerage system
In a city or town both of the above are free
so what service are provided to the people in the country side?
Roads are paid for by the car tax system???

dvpower

galway2007 wrote: »

so what service are provided to the people in the country side?

There are a whole range of services listed here.
I don't understand why people have to ask this question on Boards.ie

n97 mini

galway2007 wrote: »

It offered me the choice to pay 315k + in the city or build my own house

I find it hard to believe you couldn't get a property in the city for less than 315k, or was it you didn't want to compromise on the size/type of house?

not yet

howamidifferent wrote: »

I'm sure those who havent paid the household charge will be furious they wont be recieving "Housing Maintenance" from the local authority this year or next

Those in receipt of housing maintenance will be in council housing, so will be exempt from the ''tax'' so as usual the home owner..and I say the loosely will pay.

On a side note, I have a 240k mortgage, my apartment is worth 90k so they can stick their tax up their b0llocks.

djpbarry

not yet wrote: »

On a side note, I have a 240k mortgage, my apartment is worth 90k so they can stick their tax up their b0llocks.

You want other taxpayers to subsidise your local services because your flat has depreciated in value?

Care to explain the logic behind that?

Private Joker

hmmm wrote: »

No cutbacks in staffing or pay of course.

any sources to back this up? or have you read it from the Irish Independent.
Staff have been reduced by non renewal of contracts and retirements. i'll try and find the figures, which are floating around somewhere, but staffing has been reduced by over 25% in galway county council. and wages have been reduced in line with budgetary measures introduced( not even mentioning pension levies ).