Galway Bay fm newsroom - Athenry/Oranmore Municipal District Council has voted to reject the proposed Budget for the district.
At a meeting of the MDC this week, all councillors expressed disappointment at what they call the 'discriminatory' nature of allocating funding across all five districts in the county.
The envisaged expenditure for 2019 for the district will be 3.1 million euro, up from 2.2 million euro for 2018.
This is due to an increase in roads grants funding from the government.
Fianna Fáil Councillor Martina Kinane, who is on the finance committee of the council, says there is no additional income to be found for the Athenry/Oranmore area.
She said it's a 'sad reflection' that the best thing the district councillors can offer is that they hope to keep the streets cleaned.
Independent Councillor Jim Cuddy said that the funding for Oranmore/Athenry is totally inadequate and he requested the figures for other municipal districts to be furnished to them.
Independent Councillor Gabe Cronnelly said that the majority of motorists from south and east Galway go through the Oranmore/Athenry district as part of rat runs, but the area 'gets nothing in return'.
Councillor Frank Kearney proposed the adoption of the Budget for the municipal district saying they still have to fight for what they can, but didn't get a councillor to second his proposal.
The other councillors present, voted in favour of Councillor James Charity's motion to reject the Budget and seeking a meeting with representatives for the Department of Local Government about the issue.
Meanwhile, Tuam councillors have adopted the budget for the municipal district for 2019.
The envisaged expenditure for the region is 6.9 million euro, up from 5.5 million euro in 2018, due to an increase in roads funding.
The draft budgetary plan was presented by Head of Finance Ger Mullarkey at a special meeting today.
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