"If we have to change a light bulb, I have to make sure money is there for that light bulb"
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| Enda O'Neill, Daragh Fitzgerald, Cathy Phelan and Ann Sheridan. |
All involved with Kilcullen Community Centre were thanked at the centre's recent AGM for making 2024 another very successful year for the facility, writes Brian Byrne. Outgoing chair Cathy Phelan particularly mentioned the centre's staff and the warm welcome they gave to people and groups who use the facility.
She paid tribute to Kilcullen Community Action for their work in enhancing the grounds of the campus and the Pinkeen Stream access road. "The Centre just looks amazing when people are driving in," she said. She also welcomed new members Orla Crehan and Colleen Devine to the Board, saying their experience and knowledge will be a great asset.
Noting that the centre is dependent on grants for any work that needs to be done, she referenced the successful completion of updating the lease on the property, which will now allow access to larger grants previously unavailable. In relation to increasing income, she said that use of the various areas has been at almost maximum capacity over the past year. "We still have a couple of spaces in the centre which we are striving to get open, which will increase the capacity and bring in more people and more money. A sub-committee is working on these and we hope to get that in place this year."
Treasurer Daragh Fitzgerald said the 2023 accounts showed a 27pc increase on turnover from the previous year when the operation was just coming out of Covid. Excluding depreciation, this represented a positive figure of €24,000 compared to €11,000 in 2022 and he also reported a reduction in operating costs to 78pc of turnover, from 89pc. Commenting on provisional management figures for 2024, he said a further 15pc in turnover represented a 'great performance'. He singled out the contribution of the Coffee Hatch, up by 22pc as 'a great success'. "The Coffee Hatch has been a great idea. A lot of new businesses don't perform for a few years but that has performed from the start."
The treasurer said the centre's operating profit for 2024 should be similar to the previous year, but while the operation is maximising resources and cash flows, it is difficult to build an investment fund. He noted that in running costs, 'wages is the big one'. "We don't have Community Employment Scheme support because it's impossible to get people onto the scheme. We're constantly looking for someone but they're just not there."
Cathy Phelan said everything is being done in the centre to bring in more money than needed for running costs. "It's very hard to get ahead when you're trying to pay wages, electricity, insurance and everything like that." She noted that five years ago there was just one paid employee, now there are four, three of them on 20-hour weeks. "We want people to come and have a good experience. We want the centre to be clean, to be warm, and you can't do that on a shoestring, even though we are doing that at the minute."
On a suggestion from the floor that extra costs should be reflected in the pricing to users, manager Enda O'Neill said the officers had looked at other similar facilities and Kilcullen had to be competitive with them. "We're one of the few community centres in the country that is self-funded," he said. "A problem I have is that the general population out there think we are funded from somewhere else, but our funding is from the community. If we have to change a light bulb, I have to make sure that the money is there for that light bulb."
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