Businesses told to pay up or face rates wrath

Date Published: 18-Nov-2010

BY FRANK FARRAGHER

A plea by city businesses for a 10% rates reduction in the 2011 Council Budget ‘would carry a lot more weight’ if the Chamber of Commerce encouraged members to pay up the outstanding rates bill of between €18 million and €22m, it was claimed this week.

Former Mayor of Galway, Councillor Padraig Conneely told the Galway City Tribune that while councillors were acutely aware of the difficulties that businesses faced in the current economic environment, the case for a rates reduction next year could be made far more forcibly if the arrears for 2010 were paid up first.

According to Cllr Conneely, €22m is still owed in commercial rates out of a total bill of €44m – he said that the vast bulk of this money was owed by businesses that were still trading in the city.

The City Council confirmed to the Galway City Tribune yesterday that their latest estimate of rates owed from ‘trading businesses’ – as of this week – stood at €18 million.

“The City Council is doing everything possible to collect all arrears and we have asked any businesses in difficulty to make contact with us.

“Where rates remain unpaid and the businesses haven’t been in touch with us, legal action will be taken to recoup this money. This has already happened in a number of cases,” said the City Council spokesman.

Last week, Galway Chamber of Commerce claimed that up to 4,000 jobs could be lost in small businesses right across the city, because of the “punishing rates” that had to be paid to Galway City Council.

The Chamber called on councillors in the city and county to make their feelings known on commercial rates and to stress the importance of cutting the rates to protect jobs.

But this week, Cllr Conneely said that the Chamber also needed to encourage their members to pay their outstanding rates for 2010, a move which would greatly strengthen the hands of councillors in making the case for a reduction in 2011.

“If the outstanding rates arrears for 2010 were paid up, it would certainly put us in a much stronger position to make the case for a rates reduction in 2011. We have to be fair to the many businesses that do pay their rates each year,” said Cllr Conneely.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.