Bankrupt Sligo Council may turn off public lights/water

sligoface

Has anyone read the articles in last week's Sligo Champion/Weekender about the council, which is bankrupt (not to mention inept) and is planning to ask Phil Hogan for a bailout of at least 10 million?
http://sligoweekender.ie/2012/08/19/lights-out-if-council-dont-get-funding/
They are saying if they don't get it, it would lead them to either switch off or dim public lighting as well as completely discontinue the water supply as they couldn't afford to run the treatment plant.

Our current council is being funded by a 7.5 mil overdraft which the bank will not increase. We are currently paying the county manager 136k per year, and due to bullying allegations within the council, they are paying 20k a year for a consultant to babysit them during meetings.

How is this possible or acceptable and how can our national government allow our council to fail us like this? Lights and water are a necessity, if these are not going to be provided, why do we need a council at all? If this happens, I feel they should all be removed from their posts as it is a culmination of their gross misconduct and incompetence.

AllGunsBlazing

Serious stuff, but I doubt this is the only county council that is overpaying itself while struggling to pay it's bills. When compared to their european counterparts even our national government is paying itself far too much, not to mention the bill they run up on expenses. So they will be wary of tackling the subject of governmental pay, at any level, for fear of bringing themselves into the firing line.

They'd sooner claw back some money by cutting vital services and reducing our standard of living before taking a hit themselves.

UrbanSea

I nearly thought it was a joke when I first heard it. The biggest fear in the council is a bit of hard work

sligoface

It's been suggested that the borough and county council be merged to save money, though I doubt it will save the millions they need.

Don't understand how the bank can refuse the government an overdraft either, it's probably owned by the state, or at least been bailed out with gov help. However, I am sick of this bailout culture. They think nothing of asking for more money from banks, cutting services, cutting benefit payments to poor people, but nothing ever gets cut from their hefty salaries/expenses. And afaik, most people working on the councils have jobs as well and do this work 'on the side'.

If the lights go out, it would be extremely unsafe for pedestrians and drivers, not to mention provide perfect cover for criminal activity. And if the water is to cut off, I shudder to think what life would be like. Don't the people running the council want to keep their own running water?

duckie80

i know this has nothing to do with water or lighting BUT....
i moved out of a council house in june, gave them notice few week previous the house is perfect, left(naturally) all the soild wooden floors no need for a paint job (not that they wud do it) the range is only new, the kitchen is as gud as the day it went in 3yrs ago..
Now my debate is if these people are so stuck for money how come this house is let idle to get damp and not been filled by some family that im sure is waiting on the call to get a house ????????

Park Royal

Time for the long standing Councillors to explain to the people of Sligo

how they allowed this to happen......?

There are several very long standing and ranting Councillors on this

Council ......two in particular are known of their obstructive stances

for many years and one who is causing huge expense by his usual

bullying attitude .......

Must be very hard for the Council Workers to have pride in their work when

..the public elect dick heads to these two Councils so often .

Guess the Sligo electorate are getting what they elected ...trouble.

Son Of A Vidic

sligoface wrote: »

We are currently paying the county manager 136k per year,

How and why do these idiots get paid such bloated salaries? This is endemic in this country, our taxes overpaying these incompetent wasters. Reduce his salary to 50K and let him be happy with it, because an awful lot of people out there certainly would be.

ems_12

I might be unpopular with this suggestion, but how come they aren't turning off the lights already to save money? I'm not talking about leaving the town centre in darkness, but make an assessment of certain areas that are only required to be lit up to, e.g., midnight and turn them off after that. Then turn off pretty much all (or something like every second one in the centre) from 4am-5am or similar?

eire-kp

I very much doubt they will turn of the public water!

As for the street lights I doubt it would save that much either way.
Probably best to look at the real causes of the problem.

As for mergeing the councils I'm sure it could happen after they spend a million on reports and investigations on the right way to do it:pac:

wolf99

Just happened to be thinking about this this morning. I completely fail to understand how people can be continued to be paid (a lot) for NOT doing a job.

Anyone else, anywhere else, would be fired with prejudice if they were at the half of what these idiots are at.

On a side note; the problem with the local electoral system is that lads going around making promises and smiling at everyone at election time is not exactly any recommendation for how they do their job, yet it is how we decide who to vote for. One previous vague poster made remarks about certain councillors and how they behave in council - but if we don't know the details, like who they are even, how can it affect our voting?

Geuze

After reading the accountant's report on the finances of the Co. Co., it seems the main problem is the cost of the water treatment plants and the waste water plants.

http://www.sligotoday.ie/adverts/Item1.pdf

Water income = 4.2m

Water exp = 13m

Buford T Justice

Next thing you know they'll be taking in the street lights at night and rolling up the footpaths and putting them away to save on wear and tear.

wolf99

Some research on the county Sligo water treatment plants have shown that while some of them are the best in the country (the new one) the rest are grossly mis-handled.
Just another case of spending bucket-loads building something then just forget about it till it requires another ass load of cash to prevent anyone noticing how bad its gotten...

As for merging the councils... one truckload of lobotomised monkeys plus another equals two very expensive trucks...

sligoface

I might be unpopular with this suggestion, but how come they aren't turning off the lights already to save money? I'm not talking about leaving the town centre in darkness, but make an assessment of certain areas that are only required to be lit up to, e.g., midnight and turn them off after that. Then turn off pretty much all (or something like every second one in the centre) from 4am-5am or similar?

Lol you must be trying to get a job in the council with that plan. How about they reduce their exorbitant salaries and ridiculous running costs for such a small area, before we cut services that will endanger pedestrians and drivers who won't be able to see each other, leave homes and business vulnerable to crime (CCTV can't record what it can't see) and literally bring us back to the Dark ages. There has already been a rise in break-ins in the area within the last year or two. I certainly wouldn't want my home or business to be within any of the areas 'assessed' to be okay to leave in the dark. I have a feeling none of the dark areas would be anywhere near where someone on the council lives or does business.

Someone needs to give these useless wasters a one way ticket to the dark side of the moon before we all end up having to live on the dark side of Ireland.

BUBBLE WRAP

sligoface wrote: »

it would lead them to either switch off or dim public lighting

Surely that will just lead to bigger problems for the council???

wolf99

sligoface wrote: »

Someone needs to give these useless wasters a one way ticket to the dark side of the moon before we all end up having to live on the dark side of Ireland.

Cant put them there, they'd only infuriate the Nazis... http://youtu.be/Py_IndUbcxc