This article is from page 17 of the 2012-01-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 17 JPG
HARDPRESSED ratepayers around the county that go out of business won’t have to pay their dues to Clare County Council for the whole year.
That will the mission statement of Clare County Council going forward if they get the sanction from the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Phil Hogan.
The new move comes after a motion by Cllr Joe Cooney (FG) that the council would not pursue businesses that cease trading during the year for 12 months of rates payments.
“The reason that I put down this motion,” said Cllr Cooney, “is that in the current climate with so many businesses closing down, the council shouldn’t be looking to charge businesses for the whole year and then refund them money at the end of the year. Businesses should just be charged for the rates due for as long as they are in business. At the start of the rates year they are told that they have to pay rates for the entire year, but it should be a case where that if they cease trading during the year, they only have to pay up for as long as they were in business,” he added.
“The council have to spend time collected the rates and following people up looking for their rates contributions. I think it should be put to the minister that this should change.
“Some businesses that cease trading might start up again to maintain jobs, so it would be a big help if they didn’t have to pay rates for the full year on the first business,” continued Cllr Cooney.
The Fine Gael representative’s mo- tion was backed by Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) who said he knew “several business who were in severe financial difficulty and if they go out of business, they won’t be able to pay rates for the whole year and won’t be able to get credit to pay the rates from financial institutions to pay their rates, even though they would get a refund at the end of the year.
“In view of the current economic climate it makes common sense to change this, because people would stand some chance if the amount of rates that was due for the time they were in business was collected,” continued Cllr Kelly. “We are bound and governed by legislation on this,” said County Manager, Tom Coughlan. “It can be debated in the council, but at the end of the day we are bound by the legislation that’s there.”
After the council resolved to write to Minister Hogan on the issue, the County Manager backed the move as a positive development. “It’s wasting our time as a council collecting rates and then having to refund them,” he said, “and I appreciate what the councillors are trying to do.”