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Rate Cut Sought As Cllrs Meet On Budget

Thursday, 12 January 2012

MEMBERS of Tullamore Town Council were this week attempting to come up with a formula for reducing commercial rates in the town.
The council will meet on Thursday afternoon (January 12) to consider a draft budget proposed by the local authority's management.
As has been the case in recent years, council management are proposing to freeze rates but the council is under greater pressure than ever from the business community to cut them on this occasion.
The ongoing recession has seen revenues for many businesses fall again in 2011 and businesspeople are hoping a cut in commercial rates will throw them a lifeline for 2012.
The draft budget has been framed against the backdrop of a 15 percent reduction to the council in direct financial aid from the Government - €165,000.
Last year the Local Government Fund/General Purpose Grant to the council was nearly €1.1 million. The allocation for 2012 is €924,856.
Council management propose to spend just over €4 million in 2012 and €3 million of that will have to be raised in rates.
A rate reduction would impact on council income and thereby could put further pressure on spending.
Councillors were reluctant to comment in public in advance of Thursday's meeting and as no single party or grouping of parties holds a majority in the nine-seat chamber, no coherent coalition exists to push through a rate cut.
The 2012 draft budget is being cut back significantly in many areas, with the important housing and building section seeing net expenditure dropping from over €405,000 to €261,000.
Net spending on environmental services is going down from €463,000 to €395,000.
This reduction is being proposed in spite of the fact that the council's environmental costs are going up because of a hike in charges for disposal of waste in landfill.
The budget for street cleaning was €384,000 in 2011. For 2012 it is only €284,000.
On the other hand it is proposed to increase spending on litter management from nearly €19,000 to €32,500.
The council is anticipating a significant rise in income from housing rental, from €800,000 in 2011 to €910,000 this year.
The council also expects income from parking charges and fines to hold up. €690,000 came from that source in 2011.
The draft budget includes estimated income of €100,000 from the non principal private residence charge, which is €100 for each second or subsequent dwelling a householder owns.
Speaking yesterday (Tuesday, January 10), Cllr Tommy McKeigue said he hopes the income from the new €200 annual household charge will go to the local council.
‘People wouldn't have the same problem paying it if they knew it was going to be used locally,' said Cllr McKeigue.
The Fine Gael councillor also sees difficulties down the road with charges incurred by the council for waste it collects around the town.
‘If we will be generating rubbish as much as we are at the moment we are going to be paying through the nose,' said Cllr McKeigue.
He added that the budget for street cleaning was being 'cut to the minimum' and he hoped it does not have a negative impact on Tullamore's hard earned 'clean' ranking.
‘It took us years to get off the bottom of the IBAL (Irish Business Against Litter League) where they were saying we were a dirty town,' Cllr McKeigue remarked.
He explained that so much of the council's budget is non-discretionary - much of which is allocated to pay - that there is very little room for manoeuvre.
‘If we had more money for materials the more work we'd get done,' he said. 'To maintain a reasonable service with the decline in the Local Government Fund this year is going to be very difficult.'

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