Chamber head to urge cut in commercial rates

THE head of Cork Chamber will call on the environment minister today to take radical steps to slash commercial rates.

Chamber president John Mullins issued a hard-hitting statement last night ahead of his meeting with Environment Minister Phil Hogan in Cork today.

He said the business community is “disturbed” by the Government’s “lack of clarity” in strengthening local government and ensuring it has proper funding. He said relentless reductions in recent years in the Local Government Fund (LGF), one of the main sources of funding for local authorities, has prevented councils from passing on the benefits of their cost-cutting measures in the form of reduced commercial rates.

“This is an unsustainable situation and one which requires immediate attention by Government if we are to create strong local government models, which are properly resourced to foster regional economic development,” Mr Mullins said. “If this does not occur, central government runs the risk of being the catalyst in the deterioration of local government services.”

He said he wants to see urgent changes in national policy in relation to the local authority rating system which would see targeted measures to give meaningful reductions to certain business sectors.

“Now, more than ever, the commercial rates system needs to be able to respond to the radically different economic situation we are in. Appropriate legislative changes to rating law is required to enable a flexible response to the challenges faced by the SME sector, multinationals and new business start-ups. Central government needs to implement cost-containment initiatives where additional costs are being placed on local authorities on an ongoing basis. This is crucial if we are to see a decrease in the dependence of local authorities on the business community as their primary income source.”

He suggested that, for the remainder of the National Recovery Plan, the impact on local government of additional regulatory requirements and legislative impacts such as planning and waste policy could be frozen.

He will seek a commitment from the minister that any income raised locally through water charges and site value taxes is ring-fenced for local spending.