Anger at city council contracts going over budget

Galway Bay fm newsroom – City officials are to supply councillors with a list of the contracts which went over their tender prices last year
The list was requested at this week’s meeting when the 2014 local government audit report showed that 13 contracts went over budget
Cllr Padraig Conneely said it was a disgrace that 13 contracts with tender prices of 648 thousand euro resulted in costs of 320 thousand euro higher
The audit also highlighted the fact that tendering had not taken place in several areas including security, legal services and control of horses
Councillor Niall McNelis suggested the appointment of a Procurement Officer as recommended by the auditor and asked if there was funding for such a post
City Chief Executive Brendan McGrath said the council is aware of the resource deficit in procurement which arose due to statutory leave
He added the council is planning to establish a central purchasing/procurement function
Overall the city council was given a clean audit report for 2014, with some matters to be reviewed by the audit committee