People Before Profit call on government to make up any shortfall in Council funding as a result of Covid crisis
In a statement this afternoon People Before Profit councillors and TD Richard Boyd Barrett in Dún Laoghaire called on the government to ensure there would be no shortfall in finances of the Council as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.
Cllr Hugh Lewis attended a Council briefing with senior management this week, who were expressing concern that 30 % of local businesses had cancelled their standing order for their rates as a result of the Covid crisis and that potentially other streams of revenue would be lower than anticipated. The government recently announced a “rates deferral” for businesses who were affected by the crisis. Business rates are one of the main streams of funding for the council and if a percentage of these are unpaid for a number of months, there could be a very real impact on the financing for next year.
Cllr Hugh Lewis and his colleagues councillor Melisa Halpin and Richard Boyd Barrett TD will, today, be writing to the Ministers for Local Authority and Public Expenditure insisting that they give a clear reassurance to the local authorities that any hole in their budget sheet will be filled by central government and will not result in reduced services, increases in charges or struggling businesses being saddled with debt.
Cllr Lewis said:
“Central government must ensure local authorities receive the necessary state intervention to ensure that this years budget will be balanced and we will not face an increase in charges or a reduction in services next year. Myself, councillor Melisa Halpin and Richard Boyd Barrett TD will be writing to the Minister for Public Expenditure and the Minister for Local Authorities today to insist that this reassurance is given to our council as a matter of urgency.”
Richard Boyd Barrett TD added: “The funding of local authorities cannot be put in jeopardy by the current Covid crisis.
“It is only right and proper that small businesses, struggling as a result of the crisis, would be given a break on their rates. But this should be a real break with central government picking up the tab, rather than resulting in cuts in services or debt being loaded on the back of these struggling businesses.
“It is absolutely vital that we do not see a repeat of what happened after the crash of 2008, where local authorities were forced to slash services and many small and struggling businesses went to the wall because of unsustainable debt.”
