By Niall Boyle

niall@sligopost.com

Dramatic new reforms in local government could see the provision of a mayor, who leads both the Borough and County councils and revised structures for local governance in county Sligo.

This could lead to unitary authorities for county and city, meaning a single elected mayor – who would lead both the Borough and County councils.

This would see the mayor taking over most executive functions from county managers, including responsibility for planning, housing, water, waste and transport policy.

These changes were proposed in a paper released last week entitled ‘Stronger local democracy options for change’, by the Minister for the Environment John Gormley.

Also known as ‘the Green paper’ it states that: “if it is to reach its potential, local government needs to be strengthened to meet the challenges of the 21^st century.”

A range of initiatives are discussed to allow the people of Sligo have a greater role input into local government, including local plebiscites, town meetings, and participatory budgeting.

The paper, which is designed to present options for further consideration and debate, stresses the need for continuous change, flexibility and imagination in service delivery.

Greater movement towards the sharing services between local authorities is also advocated.

The paper also sets out the issues for debate on the financing of local government which will feed into the work of the recently established Commission on Taxation.

It’s expected that a complete paper of recommended policies will be published next autumn followed by legislation.