O’HANLON CALLS FOR REVIEW OF COMMERCIAL RATES VALUATION SYSTEM

By Veronica Corr

Councillor PJ O’Hanlon made a proposal at Tuesday afternoon’s meeting of Carrickmacross/Castleblayney Municipal District, aimed at easing the burden on the county’s ratepayers, which received unanimous support. The proposal read as follows: “Rates and rates valuation is causing severe problems for business owners at a time of uncertainty due to Brexit.

Rates levied on business premises is not an appropriate way to raise revenue for Local Government in a changing world where business is done over the internet. It’s not a sustainable model long-term and needs to be reviewed so that Local Government funding can be made secure against a changing pattern of business. A study is required of Local Government funding models including models in other jurisdictions.”

In introducing his motion, the Fianna Fáil representative said that he wanted to get a debate going on a change to the system of rates collection. He expressed the opinion that the current system was out-of-date and that there had to be a better, fairer way of setting rates, as business owners were facing a number of serious problems. Councillor O’Hanlon said that he had a business background himself and sympathised with business owners who were looking at a two or three…