Powers of Councillors in relation to Council staff

Each Local Authority is managed by a full time Manager (The County Manager) and services are delivered by a range of staff.

The role of elected Councillors in relation to the delivery of services is similar to the role of a Board of Directors in a commercial company.

Major decisions of policy rest with the elected council. The implementation or executive role of day - to-day management rests with a chief executive, the county or city manager. Functions performed by the elected members of the Council are known as reserved functions as they are reserved as the exclusive prerogative of the members. The reserved functions of a local authority are performed by the elected members by resolution passed at a meeting of the local authority. They involve decisions on major matters of policy and finance such as:

– adopting the annual budget

– determining the annual level of commercial rate to be charged

– borrowing money

– making or varying a development plan

– making a special amenity area order

– adopting a scheme of letting priorities for local authority dwellings

– demanding expenses from any other local authority

– making, amending or revoking bye-laws

– bringing enactments into force in the functional area of the local authority

Funding of Local Government

Local Authorities administer a huge budget and are among the biggest employers in this area.

Local government funding comprises of 2 main types, current expenditure and capital expenditure.

Current expenditure covers the day to day running of the local authority and is raised from a variety of sources such as charges for goods and services; rates; government grants and subsidies and a general purpose grant from the Local Government Fund.

Capital funding covers issues such as the construction of local authority houses, roads, provision of water and sewerage facilities, construction of library and swimming pool facilities etc. Capital expenditure is financed largely by State grants with the balance being funded from development levies and borrowings and the Councils own internal resources and property sales.