Over 70 businesses from across Limerick attended a Limerick Chamber information evening on 18 June to gain clarity on the current rates revaluation.

Speaking at the event Limerick Chamber President Cathal Treacy said “Limerick Chamber was delighted to hold this information evening, kindly sponsored by rating specialists Bagnall DoyleMacMahon, to address much of the confusion that has surrounded the receipt of revaluation letters last week. Our key recommendations to our members at this stage are:

–          Representations can only be made up until the 7^th of July; so if you wish to ‘appeal’ the Valuations Office proposed figure then we urge you to act immediately;

–          The Valuations Office have drop-in support centres operating on different dates in County Hall in Dooradoyle and in the local Authority offices at Newcastlewest and Kilmallock up until Friday 27^th June;

–          Limerick City and County Authority are proposing an Annual Rate of Valuation (ARV) of 0.24 for 2015. However, this is just an indicative rate and is subject to Council member adoption in the December local authority budget.

“Since an entirely new methodology is being applied to how businesses are being rated, there has been a huge level of confusion across the business community since letters were received last week. Dublin and Waterford have been through this process, and speaking to our Chamber colleagues we know that this is a rebalancing act, there will be winners and losers. But it is ultimately a zero-sum game; the local authority will collect €53m in rates from businesses in 2015 as they did in 2014. As a business representative and lobbying group this figure is our greatest concern – local authorities are over reliant on the business community as a source of revenue and this is neither equitable or sustainable” concluded Mr. Treacy.