Tipperary businesses begin voting on proposed business improvement district
Voting on whether to set up a business improvement district (BID) in one busy town in Tipperary has gotten underway this week.
In recent months, plans to set up a BID in Clonmel have been progressing, with a plebiscite to all commercial ratepayers in Clonmel starting this week via postal ballots.
Businesses are being asked to contribute to a fund aimed at improving and promoting the town. Ratepayers would be asked to pay 5pc of their total annual rates into the BID company for a period of five years.
At the April meeting of Tipperary County Council, members were told that voting for the BID to be set up was officially starting on April 14. Businesses have until May 13 to cast their votes.
Ger Walsh, senior executice officer with the council said that the project had received widespread support from businesses in the town.
"We received 235 submissions, and 226 of them were in favour, supporting progression to the next stage, which is the plebiscite,” Mr Walsh said.
Local councillors were in support of the project, with Fianna Fáil councillor Siobhán Ambrose saying that the BID process had worked well elsewhere in the country.
"I just want to wish the BIDs group the very best of luck, I’ve had the opportunity, as have other councillors, to meet with the BIDs group to hear all about it from them, and they are all very much in support of it,” she said.
"We’ve also had the opportunity to speak to the Sligo group, because this scheme is up and running in Sligo too, and it is working very well in Sligo, and it is enabling them to develop and implement initiatives.
"It also affords BIDs groups the opportunity to access funding that we as a local authority can’t, by virtue of the fact that we’re a Government body,” Cllr Ambrose said.
Also showing his support was Fine Gael councillor Tom Acheson, who said that the proposal had been brought to the council by businesses in the town.
"This is an initiative that’s been brought to us by the businesspeople of Clonmel, the Town First team have worked extremely hard to bring it to the position it’s at, and in my lifetime, it’s certainly the first time that businesspeople in Clonmel have come together collectively for an idea to do something different,” he said.
"There’s enough negativity around Clonmel, like a lot of other towns, but this has the opportunity. It’s only over five years so if people don’t like the outcome in five years, they can change their vote if they decide to be positive this time, which I hope they will,” Cllr Acheson said.
Fellow Fine Gael councillor John Fitzgerald, who also runs a business in the town, said the BID plans are one of the best proposals he’s seen in 40 years.
"As a ratepayer myself, in the centre of the town for over 40 years, this is one of the best proposals that has come to ratepayers in that time,” he said.
"I think it’s a no-brainer. I hope that the ratepayers of Clonmel will support this, and I have every expectation that they will and I hope they come out and vote to get this new energy going in the town,” he added.
Independent councillor Richie Molloy said that he too, was supportive of the plan, and said that any businesses he had spoken to would be happy to give it a go.
“While it is difficult for businesses to pay that bit extra, they’re already paying the rates for many, many years, and this will be 5pc on top of the rates, but they were all quite happy to give it a go and to have that extra pool of money,” Cllr Molloy said.
However, not all councillors support the proposal, with independent councillor Niall Dennehy saying that the local chamber of commerce is already being paid to deliver the same things the BID would.
"€2.5million of ratepayers money will be extracted from them, should this go ahead. The BIDs stated objectives are not the issue, the issue is that Tipperary County Council and others, such as the chamber of commerce are already paid to do the job by Clonmel ratepayers,” Cllr Dennehy said.
"Saying that some 200-plus ratepayers out of an approximate 800 are supportive is hardly a majority.
"I have instructed the executive in Tipperary County Council that no BID plebiscite in Clonmel be conducted in my name as a councillor,” Cllr Dennehy said.
In response, Jonathan Cooney, district director of the Clonmel Borough District said that the BID team can’t and won’t replace the work of the council if the process is successful.
"The work of the BID proponent cannot replace the work of the local authority and the proposal document that came forward from the proponents was very clear in that regard,” Mr Cooney said.
"If the plebiscite is passed, it will come back before the members at the June meeting to make a decision, and at that stage any councillor can decide to vote either way,” Mr Cooney added.
Businesses have until May 13 to cast their votes.