Galway Independent Column - 27 October 2010

When Galway Chamber Council members discussed the matter of Commercial Rates at the recent Chamber AGM there was a unanimous view in the room that not only could business not support any increase in Commercial Rates this year, it couldn’t support a freeze either. The only way that Commercial Rates could go this year…is down.

Outgoing President Paul Shelly reflected the view of the large attendance after the meeting when he said that Galway Chamber must lobby for a reduction of at least 10% in Commercial Rates this year. He said that business could no longer afford to pay Commercial Rates at their current level and this was evident in the amount of uncollected rates.

‘We are lobbying with other business organisations on this issue of concern to our members. There needs to be at least a reduction of 10%, the rates base needs to be widened, duplication of functions in the local authorities needs to be rationalised to reduce costs of services and local government funding by central government must change’, he said.

The bleak message from our members is that Galway businesses will not survive if our local authorities, city and county, don’t cut Commercial Rates. On behalf of our members we are calling for a 10% cut so that business can continue to trade and can continue to retain jobs.

We are well aware that the local authorities depend on Commercial Rates to fund approximately a third of their costs (€33m out of a total of €87m) and while the private sector has had to tighten up and reduce costs in order to survive, the public sector must do the same.

For example, the rates base must widen: only 8% of the buildings here are eligible to pay rates…there are no rates levied on public buildings, domestic buildings or businesses such as B&Bs.

The introduction of broad-based charges will reduce local authority budgetary pressures and thus the dependency on business to make up the short fall in funding. Minister Gormley must make sure that recommendations for Local Government reform are implemented by national government. The situation as it exists cannot continue. Already the contribution by business is down because of closures and the collapse in forecasted development contributions income. This underlines the fragile nature of local authority budgets and must be moved to a more sustainable funding model.

In order to restore competitiveness Government must move to reduce the amount of rates and charges that businesses are forced to pay. Costs savings and economies of scale are necessary, amalgamation of back office functions between the city and county councils would be one such route, much like the VEC proposals.

Businesses in Galway city and county have been through and are still going through very difficult times. These businesses cannot support what is essentially an extra tax on business. Our members have always paid their share and have no objection to paying a fair share but in the current economy this extra tax on business is insupportable and will cost jobs.

And speaking of jobs and keeping our spend local….it’s coming to that time of year again when we urge members and the wider public to shop local and to Sp€nd Christmas in Galway. Good news then that the proposed Christmas Market has been saved at the 11th hour.

In a recent press statement issued by Galway Chamber and following a briefing to our Council on the proposed market, we said that we would be working to ensure that local businesses gain maximum advantage from the expected influx of visitors to the City in the pre-Christmas period.

We will be working this year as every other year to attract people to ‘Sp€nd Christmas in Galway, both visitors and locals alike and we will continue to promote Galway as a fantastic place to visit and to shop over the Christmas holiday season with the Christmas Market further supporting this campaign.