LETTERKENNY generated the highest income for Donegal County Council through pay parking with over €310,000 paid in the Cathedral Town last year. The majority of this revenue was used for the Local Authority’s payroll expenses.
New figures obtained by the Donegal News through a Freedom of Information request show that revenue being brought in through parking charges in Letterkenny has risen by ten per cent in the last two years. The amount paid in pay parking has increased from €282,327 in 2017, to €293,221 in 2018 and to €310,115 in 2019.
The amount spent on pay parking has also risen in the Twin Towns where €152,577 was paid last year up from €143,603 in 2017 and €152,015 in 2018. Across the county almost €1 million was generated through pay parking last year. This figure (€958,582) is up from €917, 214 paid in 2017 and is down slightly from €971,102 in 2018.
Donegal Town had the second highest income generated through parking where €281,934 was raised last year. Bundoran also raised a substantial amount of revenue for the Local Authority through pay parking, €138,007 last year.
A further €75,571 was raised through pay parking in Buncrana. Meanwhile just €377 was raised in Ballyshannon last year following the abolition of pay and display charges in February after a long running campaign by the local community. The year previously €6,324 had been raised in Ballyshannon.
So where does this money go? A breakdown from the Council’s Roads Department shows that what is raised through pay parking is diverted into different sections of the Council each year.
The majority of the money raised in Letterkenny in 2019 (€174,320) was spent on payroll expenses. A further €123,877 was spent on operational expenses and €16,956 was spent on administration expenses.
In the Twin Towns the majority of income generated last year was also spent on payroll expenses (€77,077) followed by €54,177 transferred to reserves.
However, Acting Senior Engineer at the Roads Department, Brendan O’Donnell pointed out that the amount of transfers to reserves for 2019 has not been finalised yet so these figures could change as they are estimated.
In Buncrana the majority of the revenue raised through pay parking (€47,868) was put back into establishment expenses followed by operational expenses (€13,646).
In Bundoran the majority of the money (€111,188) was spent on operational expenses and in Donegal Town (€158,486) was spent on payroll expenses.
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