CASH-STRAPPED clubs in Donegal have been given some relief with the news that the county board are proposing to give them a reduction of one third of the annual levy which wipes off Euro 70,000 of cash due to the board.
This means that the total of E170,000 owed to the board in unpaid levies by clubs will come down to approximately E100,000, according to county treasurer, Alan Boyd.
And he added that he hopes to have that outstanding amount of E100,000 in by the end of the month.
Boyd revealed the E170,000 figure owed at last month’s county convention and also revealed that a total of 19 clubs had not paid any levies at all
Of the remaining 21 clubs only 12 clubs had paid in full, with a further nine entering into a payment plan.
The reduction will mean that senior clubs who pay E6,500 now will have that bill cut to E4,434.
Intermediate clubs will have their bill of E5,500 reduced to E3,767 and the bill for Junior clubs is reduced from E4,500 to E3,000.
And there was more good news from Croke Park who have announced that clubs will now only have to pay one sixth of the annual cost for property and public liability for clubs in 2021.
Speaking ahead of next Monday night’s first county committee meeting in a year, treasurer Boyd said: ''We are proposing that the levies be reduced by a third and it depends on whether you are senior, intermediate and junior.
“The one third reduction is coming from the day-to-day costs of running the county board.
“We could not make the reduction from coaching because we have actually lost money on the coaching a we kept employing the guys.
“While we did get some relief through the schemes, we had no support from Ulster or Croke Park.
“And we are still paying the Convoy loan which is the other payment that we have to keep up and that is the third part of the total payment.
He added: “Hopefully this will be passed at Monday night’s county committee meeting but really what this now means is that instead of a profit of E60,000 for last year, we are going to make a loss because we are giving around E70,000 back to the clubs.
“The loss will be about E14,000 and we are still running a fairly tight ship.”
“A few clubs who owe for unpaid levies have made deals with us, but they were waiting for other things to happen, and they are gradually getting their own monies in and they don’t want to go into debt this year.
“Some of them are going on monthly payments and others are just clearing it and certainly I would like to have it all cleared by the end of the month.
“So, the outstanding amount owed by the clubs is E100,000 and the incentive is there now for the clubs to pay off this outstanding amount.
“We realise that this has been a very trying year for all units of the GAA in the county, but 2021 could be even more challenging.
“But we are determined to accommodate the clubs as much as we can.”
