Michael Walsh has proposed an increase of 5% to fill a hole in the local authority’s finances.

However, councillors have voted to continue lobbying the government for further funding, pushing a decision back until the 12th of December.

The CEO was hoping to plug a 1.3 million euro hole in the council’s budget, caused by a revaluation of assets.

It needed majority support from Waterford’s 32 councillors.

Instead, Labour and Sinn Féin, who are part of the controlling group on the council, proposed deferring a decision until Thursday 12th December, when councillors will meet again.

They proposed meeting Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Eoghan Murphy again and acquiring more funding from his department.

It means if the budget isn’t passed in a fortnight’s time, the department will take control of the council’s finances.

Mr Walsh says services will suffer if the increase isn’t accepted.

He said “Do we want to exist on the basis that we are going to cut everything to the bone, end up delivering very poor services and in a sense end up going nowhere

quickly and I think that’s a very clear choice and it is a political choice and it is a matter for ye as a council to make. My view would be very clearly, obviously, that we

need to accept that we have to pay for services.

We gave a phenomenal benefit to the rate payers of Waterford that was unparalleled in the history of local government in Waterford in 2014. They got significant cuts

and we have since then had one increase in eleven years of 2.4%.

I say very simply and explicity, that it is not reasonable for any business community or any community to accept that we can continue to deliver the services in an

environment where there are phenomonal demands from the public and otherwise, increasing demands and really significant increasing demands from the public and that

we can continue to provide those services and to drive Waterford forward, for the business community, for society here in Waterford.”