Second heated Tipperary council budget debate ends in 5pc commercial rates rise
Despite descending into chaos for the second time, councillors in Tipperary voted to pass an amended budget that would see commercial rates for businesses raised by 5pc.
Last Friday, the annual budget meeting was adjourned following a late proposal by Fianna Fáil councillor Michael Smith that councillors pass the budget with several amendments attached.
The amended budget included that, while the commercial rates for businesses in the county would be raised by 5pc, the Rates Payment Incentive Scheme (RPIS) – which gives commercial rates payers a 6pc discount if they pay their rates bill by June – would increase to 7pc, and that Tipperary County Council would engage in a publicity campaign to ensure that as many rate payers as possible know about the scheme so they can avail of it.
Increasing the discount under the RPIS would come at a cost of €250,000 to Tipperary County Council, with the budget being cut in other areas to pay for this.
As well as the increase in the reduction under the rates incentive, the threshold for businesses to qualify for the scheme would also be raised, meaning the same businesses who were eligible for the scheme this year, would still be eligible next year.
As part of the amended budget, a €100,000 community lighting pilot scheme will also be established, which would be implemented to support community centres and burial grounds.
Addressing the chamber, Cllr Smith said it was wise to adjourn the budget last week, and that he had spent the week talking to businesses in his area.
"It was a wise call to adjourn for a week, certainly for myself and my colleagues, it posed a clear opportunity to talk to businesses within our area and explain to them in reality what the proposal is, and what way we are trying to mitigate and the conditions which we were putting in.
"A businessman said on the radio during the week to councillors, ‘do not reduce services within our county, you’ve fought long and hard for those services’, and I think he, like others, understands the predicament that each and every one of us are in here today,” Cllr Smith said.
Despite this proposal being put before the 40 councillors in Tipperary, several councillors called for the rejection of the amended budget and the passing of the original budget as it was presented last week, while another said the meeting was a “farcical chaos”.
Independent councillor for Clonmel Niall Dennehy said that he had never seen a budget meeting like it.
"In the 31 years since I was first elected, I have never ever witnessed an annual budget meeting of the board of directors of a council descend into such farcical chaos as happened last week, nobody seemed to know what was going on.
"I wanted to reiterate the reality of yet another bad deal for Clonmel, it’s the twelfth annual budget in succession where we have haemorrhaged circa half a billion euro to date in current account receipts, and one billion in fixed assets, and were offered a meagre €200,000 as a discretionary spend in the GMA (General Municipal Allocation),” Cllr Dennehy hit out.
Fine Gael councillor John Crosse said that those who were proposing to reject the budget had “no ambition” for Tipperary.
"I know there’s an ambition at the top table, we have an ambition for our county and our members have an ambition for our county, and we want to see monies available to develop and to make Tipperary a great place, and to keep Tipperary up with all the other counties, we certainly have an ambition, but the members that vote against this budget have no ambition for Tipperary,” he said.
Being asked to vote on the amended budget, councillors were told that if the vote for the amended budget did not pass, the original budget would be adopted, something which independent councillor Seámie Morris hit out at, saying the council were trying to “ram through” a budget, and said it was an “afront to democracy”.
"This is ramming through a budget, this is an absolute disgrace what’s going on, it’s an afront to democracy,” he said.
Tipperary County Council chief executive Sinéad Carr hit out at the antics from councillors in the chamber and online, saying that the council must pass a budget, even if it’s not the one in front of them currently.
"You have to adopt a budget, whatever that budget looks like, you have to adopt a budget. So if you are not happy with the proposal here and you reject it, there needs to be another amendment proposed.
"If you refuse the budget, you have then effectively no adopted budget, you must adopt a budget, you don’t have leeway on that,” Ms Carr said.
Eventually, the amended budget was voted on, passing by 24 councillors in favour, with 14 against.