This article is from page 17 of the 2006-12-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 17 JPG
ENNIS Chamber of Commerce has given a cool response to Ennis Town Council’s decision to raise commercial rates for the forthcoming year.
While welcoming the increased level of funding for the promotion of Ennis, the chamber fears the rate rise is not good news for small businesses struggling to compete with large scale developments.
Members of Ennis Town Council last week approved the 2007 budget which provided for a 4.8 per cent rise in commercial rates.
In his report Town Manager Tom Coughlan stated the rate increase represented a “slight decrease on the on the rate of increase in 2006”.
But according to the CEO of Ennis Chamber of Commerce, Rita McInerney the rise is an extra and unwelcome financial burden.
“Even if it is low, no business wants to rates go up. Its twice the annual rate of inflation, which is predicted at 2.4 per cent for the coming year….These are extra costs being placed on businesses. Our priority should be to encourage the individual uniqueness of the town. We need a mix of multinational and local shops, independent traders should not be squeezed out.”
She also revealed that some local businesses may refuse to pay water rates after recent problems with the Ennis water supply.
“We think a rebate scheme for businesses in Ennis should be looked at. It was placing a lot of extra costs on businesses, whether they had to buy in ice or water for just cleaning food. Some of them may go as far as withdrawing paying water rates. They are paying for a service but are not able to use it.”
€65,000 has also been allocated in the Budget for the promotion of the town while a further €20,000 is to be given to the Promote Ennis group.
In order to build on the Tidy Towns success of recent years, the council has set aside €100,000 for the enhancement of lanes in the town.
These initiatives have been welcomed by the chamber along with the decision not to increase car parking charges.
“There was a lot of positives in the budget. The money for the lanes is very welcome, it is something that the president John Madden has prioritised and is something that has repeatedly come back in the Tidy Towns reports.”