WEST Cork councillors rejected a draft budget at a special meeting of elected members last week.

Municipal district officer Eimear O’Neill outlined the 2027 draft budget, admitting it comes against “a challenging financial backdrop”.

This year’s proposed spend of €28,072,682 is the same sum that was declined by elected members last November. Cllr Danny Collins (Ind Ire) said: “It’s copy and paste of last year’s budget, which we don’t like because of rising costs.”

Elected members praised the staff for their work in assembling the budget and their efforts throughout the year but stressed that in the current economic climate an identical budget was not acceptable.

Cllr Alan Dromey (FF) acknowledged the council are in an “unenviable position” but said: “West Cork can’t stand still, when even the price of standing still increases.”

His colleague Cllr George Gill agreed, saying the same budget won’t deliver the same results this time around.

Cllr Daniel Sexton (Ind Ire) accepted “it’s quite a large amount of money” but said it will achieve considerably less than last year due to rising costs. He proposed the budget should be rejected, which was seconded by Cllr Isobel Towse (SD).

The countywide budget is set to be brought before full council for discussion in early November and if more funding is available, the draft proposal will be supplemented. Under the current proposal, the largest allocation was for road transport and safety, receiving €22,589,324.

Of that, €12,628,473 was set aside for maintenance and improvement works to local roads, €9,141,442 was provided for regional roads and a smaller sum of €193,445 was allocated for national secondary roads.

A sum of €285,977 was proposed for traffic management improvements while €117,624 was set aside for road safety promotion and education, including road markings and signage for school zones.

Agency and recoupable services received €27,780 and €194,583 was allocated for car parking costs.

Following the report, Cllr Deirdre Kelly (FF) requested the council provide a further breakdown of figures in the future.

Elsewhere, the draft budget called for the provision of €404,245 for the operation and maintenance of public conveniences, such as portaloos.

A sum of €254,674 was set aside for tourism development, with a significant portion going towards the Michael Collins Museum in Clonakilty.

Street cleaning, graveyard maintenance, litter management and structural funds amounted to €1,708,425, with the aim of keeping towns and villages in the district well maintained.

Over €2.1m was ringfenced for the recreation and amenity programme which supports the upkeep of leisure facilities and includes €192,626 for the operation of Skibbereen Heritage Centre and further arts funding for the region.

Funding for piers and harbours amounted to €848,171 with an additional €91,278 set aside for coastal protection.

Cllr Finbarr Harrington (Ind) warned that these figures will fall short of what is required to adequately maintain the 200 piers and slipways in West Cork.

He said that special consideration must be given to the region because “we have what other Municipal Districts don’t have; a vast coastline”.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.