Efficiencies and extra charges add up to €511m

EFFICIENCIES AND a range of increased charges for local authority services including housing, water, planning, waste management and motor tax were proposed yesterday.

The Local Government Efficiency Review Group, established by the Government, said the efficiencies and charges would amount to savings of €511 million a year. The figure is net of income from a longer-term proposal from the group to extend tolls to national roads.

The €511 million represents a considerable saving on local authority net current spending, for which €4.7 billion was provided in 2010. The current and capital budget for local authorities this year is €8.5 billion.

In efficiency terms, the report proposed savings in the order of €346 million through a range of changes in staffing, the withdrawal of functions from some town councils, savings in the expenses of elected members, and the amalgamation of some county councils.

The report proposed local authorities should, over time, pass on the full costs of items such as assessment of planning applications and dealing with motor tax renewals.

It proposed increases in motor tax charges but not for those who pay online. The report also proposed an end to the system where drivers may declare they have not been driving their cars for certain periods, thus avoiding paying arrears of road tax.

The two car tax measures alone would raise an estimated €115 million a year, according to the Department of the Environment, which set up the reporting group.

In addition, the report urged that local authority tenants on social welfare pay for their homes through deductions in their social welfare payments.

It said gains can be made from integrating the administrative structures of county and city areas, as well as those of county and town councils.

The report recommended some county and city council areas be paired as “joint administrative areas”. These included Carlow and Kilkenny; Cavan and Monaghan; Galway city and county; Laois and Offaly; Leitrim and Sligo; Longford and Westmeath; Mayo and Roscommon; North Tipperary and South Tipperary; and Waterford city and county.

Planning, roads and housing functions of town councils should be transferred to their respective county councils, according to the report. In addition, it said the setting and collection of rates should be removed from town councils.

In terms of local democracy, the report said a series of bodies, including joint drainage boards and joint burial boards, should be dissolved, with their functions transferred to local authorities or a “lead” local authority, resulting in savings in overheads. Financial supports to local elected representatives, recently reduced, are to be kept under review.

The group recommended the number of staff at director of service level be further reduced by at least 20 per cent. It also said there should be a 15 per cent reduction in staff at senior executive officer, administrative officer, senior staff officer, and staff officer levels, as well as a 15 per cent reduction in the numbers at senior engineer, senior executive engineer, executive engineer, and assistant engineer (and equivalent grades).

The joint administrative areas would allow for a 30 per cent reduction in overall numbers employed at county/city manager level, and a 10 per cent reduction in staffing in corporate services functions in these joint areas.

It also recommended upskilling to allow one person to inspect property for a variety of purposes including for fire and safety, building control, planning enforcement, derelict sites and private rental properties.

The group recommended local authorities reduce the amounts spent on professional fees, advertising and logistics, and that development of online services should be intensified. Local authorities should charge the economic cost of providing water services and exemptions to commercial rates, including those for State properties, should be discontinued.