Council leaves rate unchanged for 2012

Commercial rates in Westmeath will be unchanged in 2012, after members of the county council this week voted against a Fianna Fail motion seeking a 1% reduction in the annual amount businesses pay to the local authority.The 1% cut was proposed by Castletown-Finea councillor Paddy Hill.Cllr Hill admitted that this cut "won't make a hell of a lot of difference" to businesses, but it would "send out a signal" that the council was conscious of the difficulties they face.He pointed out that the council had lost €1.8m in potential rates payments due to the closure of businesses in 2011.A 2.3% reduction in rates was initially proposed, but Cllr Hill later amended this to 1%. He suggested the council make up the shortfall by cutting an extra €30,000 from its library book purchase fund, moving €10,000 out of its forward planning budget and taking €60,000 from car parking income earmarked for improving roads and footpaths in Mullingar.Fine Gael's Cllr Fintan Cooney said a 1% cut would be "tokenism" and added: "It won't make a difference. The problems facing businesses that are struggling go much further than the rates being charged by Westmeath County Council. "I think we'd be making fools of people by saying 'here, we're going to help you out by cutting rates by 1%'."When votes were called, the eight Fianna Fail representatives on the council voted in favour of the rates cut while the other 14 members at the meeting decided to leave rates as they are. The five-hour budget meeting ended with the council's draft budget being approved without any changes.Local authority spending in Westmeath will be reduced by €9.1m (or 13.5%) in 2012. County manager Danny McLoughlin said the reduction would be achieved "with minimal impact to frontline services" as the budgets for housing maintenance, road maintenance, water and sewerage, fire service, amenity and open space maintenance would be retained at 2011 levels. The council's matching funding for grant aid, such as housing grants for the elderly, has also been maintained.The consolidated waste and waste water charge paid by businesses will be reduced from €230 to between €215-220, and the council said it intended to reduce charges paid through the General Development Contribution Scheme following a review of the scheme in the new year.Cllr Frank McDermott expressed his "disappointment, surprise and disgust" at the fact that details of the council's budget appeared in newspapers ahead of the budget meeting.He said he had driven 55 miles a week earlier to attend an 'in-committee' meeting discussing the budget. "It begs the question, why have a committee meeting at all? I could have sat at home and read all about it in a few hours."