Castlebar councillors agree on rate cut

Castlebar councillors agree on rate cut


Edwin McGreal

Castlebar Town Councillors voted eight to one in favour of a 2.5 per cent cut in the annual commercial rate for businesses in the town last week.
The town manager, Seamus Granahan, had proposed no cut in the rate in his draft budget but at last week’s Annual Budget meeting a 2.5 per cent reduction in the amount businesses in the town must pay the town council was negotiated after savings were made in other areas of spending.
The meeting agreed to cut €15,000 from the budget for Christmas lighting, €3,000 from the Mayor’s allowance, to cut €27,000 from the fund allocated for the purchase of the Military Barracks while the remainder of the €90,500 required to allow the 2.5 per cent cut will consist of increases in parking charges.
Cllr Brendan Henaghan (Fine Gael) told the meeting that control over rates was one of the few powers left to town councils and that it was important the council make a contribution towards businesses in the town, many of whom are ‘very fearful for the coming year’.
However there was varying opinion on how much the rate cut will benefit business in the town, particularly small and medium businesses.
Fine Gael’s Cllr Eugene McCormack warned at the beginning of the meeting that a reduction in rates might not help most those whom the council intend to help.
“Of the top 24 ratepayers in the town, only four are local people,” he said. “That is a very important figure to keep in mind. We might be putting a lot of savings into the pockets of the big boys but it is small businesses that have the biggest problems and rates is not their biggest problem.”
In response to Independent councillor Frank Durcan’s proposal for a 10 per cent cut, Sinn Féin’s Councillor Therese Ruane argued that a rate cut would not directly benefit small businesses in the manner intended.
“The real beneficiaries would be the banks, big business and semi-state bodies. It would be far more beneficial to support and promote small and medium local businesses by promoting the town of Castlebar.”
Labour’s Cllr Harry Barrett stated that ‘the British multinationals will be laughing at us’ with the saving that was being handed to them, arguing that rates were far from the biggest concern for small businesses, particularly those renting properties. The equability of the rates system was also discussed at length.
“Do people realise the inequability of the system where a big business might be paying lower rates than businesses four times smaller than them?,” asked Cllr Frank Durcan.
Cllr Therese Ruane argued that the system of collecting rates should be looked at if the system was inequitable while Mayor Michael Kilcoyne pointed out that new businesses can have the highest rate while businesses are charged relatively low.
With the draft budget having proposed no cut in the rate, any potential rate cut proposed by councillors would have to be financed by cutbacks in other parts of the budget.
Fine Gael’s Cllr Noreen Heston argued that the figure of €50,000 for Christmas lighting was excessive and, therefore, €15,000 was cut from this figure. A further €27,000 was cut from the figure of €127,000 set aside to signal an interest in the purchase of the Military Barracks.
“Now is a good time to express an interest in what will be a fine facility for us but €127,000 might be excessive at this juncture and we can make a saving here,” argued Cllr Eugene McCormack.
Cllr Ger Deere also proposed that parking charges be charged on Sundays at the Dunnes Stores car park, which is due to come under the council’s Pay and Display system. This was accepted by town manager Seamus Granahan with an expected extra revenue of in excess of €500 per week, which was used to counter-balance the rate cut. Cllr Deere also added that there would be a €3,000 per year saving from the mayor’s allowance from each of the four years when Fine Gael will hold the mayoral chain.
The balance of the shortfall is due to be made up from proposed parking charge increases. Cllr Frank Durcan was the only councillor to oppose the 2.5 per cent reduction.