Council wants rate equalisation over three years

County council wants rate equalisation over three years


Anton McNulty

The members of the Mayo County Council Executive want to see the rates of the former town councils to be equalised with that of the County council within three years. However, some councillors have called for that timeframe to be extended.
The members of Mayo County Council formally adopted the 2015 County Budget with some amendments, which included no change to the annual rate of €68.76. Despite the abolition of the three town councils, rate payers in Westport, Ballina and Castlebar, will continue to retain their former rates as part of the ‘equalisation’ deal. This is designed to allow rate payers time to adjust their budget before rates are brought into line with the rest of the county.
Westport commercial businesses currently pay the lowest rate fee of €63.23, while Ballina businesses pay €64.52. Castlebar is already in line with the Council rate of €68.76.
Under the legislation, County Councils have up to ten years to bring in a single rate, but the Mayo County Council Executive proposes to bring it in over a period of three years, starting in 2016.
Peter Duggan, the Head of Finance with Mayo County Council, explained that the council cannot adjust the county rate again until there is one single rate, and it proposes to raise the Westport and Ballina rates to meet the current figure of €68.76. “We will bring all the rates to the same rate you adopted today. The rate of €68.76 cents is higher than the current rates in Ballina and Westport. We have ten years to bring all the rates to that rate [€68.76] and there will be no change in the rates next year. The 2014 rate will be in place in 2015, and 2016 is when the annual adjustments will take place. I propose a period over three years to effectively close the gap,” he told councillors at yesterday’s council meeting.
However, some councillors were not happy with the time period given to businesses, with Independent Gerry Ginty calling for it to be extended to at least five years. Westport Independent Christy Hyland added that it was not fair that businesses had to pay more, saying the the current rate should be lowered to meet the Westport and Ballina rates.
County Chief Executive Peter Hynes explained that equalising the rates in the shortest period of time will be for the ‘greater good of the county’.
“We support equalisation over a shortened period of time for the greater good of the county. One of the biggest inputs of the the equalisation period is that the county will have its rates frozen. That would see no increase in rates for the county for nearly ten years,” he said.
Mr Hynes also dismissed suggestions from Sinn Féin councillor Rose Conway-Walsh that the council had been tied into a budget and that the rate payers of Westport and Ballina will see rates increases ‘without having anything to show for it’.