Councillors from all parties give their thumbs-up to rise in rates

Councillors from all parties give their thumbs-up to rise in rates

9 February 2022

NEWRY, Mourne and Down councillors took less than 12 minutes to unanimously rubber-stamp a rates hike of almost two per cent at their monthly meeting on Monday night.

Across-the-board political support came after weeks of meetings to take a critical look at budgets across a range of departments with councillors keen to press ahead with the district’s growth programme.

The proposal for a near two percent rise was formally proposed by Sinn Fein and seconded by the DUP, with SDLP, Ulster Unionist and Alliance weighing in with their support.

Sinn Fein’s Barra Ó Muiri said his party was “more than happy” to propose the increase, insisting that its priority in striking the rate has always been to protect and improve public services and to strike a fair rate for workers and families.

He issued a reminder that last year all councillors agreed to set a three-year budget plan to allow the local authority to best use ratepayers money and to plan council finances more effectively.

“This is the second year of this process and it has helped us deliver a fair and consistent approach for ratepayers. We know that times are challenging for workers, families and businesses across the district, that is why I was happy to propose this fair rate,” Cllr Ó Muiri continued.

“We believe this rate strikes the right balance between protecting our high quality frontline services, investing in our future and, where possible, reducing costs to take pressure off the ratepayer.”

He added: “It has been another challenging year for all with the continued impact of Covid-19 and the public health restrictions. I welcome the financial support by Sinn Fein ministers Conor Murphy and Deirdre Hargey which has been used to help mitigate the economic impact of Covid and keep the rate fair.

“There are exciting times ahead for our district and as we grow out of Covid, my party’s priority will be to advance key capital projects, protect and create jobs and improve frontline services.”

The DUP’s Billy Walker also highlighted the local authority’s decision to embark upon a three-year budget plan.

“We have kept to our word in keeping the rate under two percent and I believe that is good. What we have to realise here is that this does not affect our capital projects which will still move forward right throughout the district,” he continued.

“I have seen other councils cut back on capital projects but we are not doing that. We are proceeding with projects that we have within our budgets.”

Cllr Declan McAteer (SDLP) said while the rise was well below the rate of inflation, he believed it was a case of “what could have been possible”, suggesting that if the rates support grant from the Department of Communities was not on a downward spiral “we could have had a lower rate”.

He also argued that if requests to the Department of Finance to pay off higher interest rates and historical loans had succeeded, there could also have been a lower rate.

“Following the Assembly’s latest financial monitoring round and there being a £100m underspend, could some of this money not been allocated to the rates support grant?

“The Department of Finance says it is not its intention to impose an increase in the regional rate but nonetheless attempt to force councils into inflicting austerity through the back door. This council has an ambitious capital programme and we are also investing heavily in frontline service delivery this year,” he continued.

The UUP’s David Taylor said the past number of years had been a “particularly challenging period” for the local authority.

He said the annual rates process is never easy, with difficult decisions for councillors to make.

“Through the guidance and assistance we have received from officers, it makes the process a lot easier and gives us a better understanding of where we are financially as a corporate body,” he continued.

‘We have encountered many problems because of Covid and whilst there has been support offered from central government, that has only went so far. We also faced challenges of some of our resources not bringing in the same amount at this moment in time so we faced the challenge of trying to recover this in some way, without impacting on frontline services and their quality.”

Cllr Taylor added: “Every councillor would love a zero 

rate but we are not in a position to do that, we have got the best deal we possibly can. It has not been an easy task to reach this point.”

Alliance’s Andy McMurray said a “balance of prudence and spend on capital projects and services  has been struck”, adding: “There really are great financial uncertainties both locally, nationally and internationally on a range of issues and the work undertaken to set the rate has balanced this.”

Independent councillor Henry Reilly said it was important to acknowledge the “huge amount” of intervention and financial contributions by the Treasury over the past number of years during Covid which helped the council keep the rates down substantially.

He added: “This demonstrates the massive benefit of Northern Ireland being part of the UK and part of one of the biggest economies in the world.”