Newry Council heralds new era by striking district rates

Another historic milestone passed on Thursday 12th February 2015 when Newry Mourne and Down District Council struck its rate for the first time to meet the cost of services it will provide for the year 1st April 2015 to 31st March 2016.

These include leisure and recreational services, economic development and environmental services as well as new services transferring from central government.

Domestic Rates:

On a comparative basis for the two combined Councils District Rates the Domestic Rate for 2015/2016 will be 0.3528 pence (2014/2015 equivalent 0.3372 pence) which is an increase for the combined Council District Rate of 4.62%.

The Regional Rate (set by NI Assembly) is indicated at a figure of 0.4042 pence (0.3987 pence 2014/15).

When the District Rate and Regional Rate are added together on a comparison basis of the two combined Councils, the rate of a property valued at £100,000 will be £757 for 2015/2016 (£736 for 2014/2015) representing an overall increase of 2.87%.

Non Domestic Rate:

The Non Domestic District Rate for 2015/2016 will be 21.9679 pence (2014/2015, 25.0943 pence). The Non Domestic Regional Rate indicated for 2015/2016 will be 31.860 pence (2014/2015, 33.9100 pence)

The Designate Presiding Officer, Councillor Charlie Casey, said, “This is an historical event as our new Council sets its rate for the first year of operation. We are currently in austere times when there has been a reduction in the Rates Support Grant from the DOE between 2014/15 to 2015/16 by £458,350 yet our citizens have high expectations of service delivery by us.

“We want to minimize the impact on the rates of absorption of new services and make the change as seamless as possible. The challenge is now to deliver on a detailed programme over the next year and to continue to deliver the high quality service our citizens expect and deserve,” Casey added.

Over the next year the Council will deliver a substantial programme of capital developments throughout the Newry Mourne and Down District to the value of £9.3 million.

These include a number of schemes such as:

• Phase 2 of Newry Leisure Centre
• Down Leisure Centre
• Saintfield Community Hall
• Repairs to Camlough Lake
• NewryTown Hall Upgrade
• Downpatrick Recycling Centre
• Drumnakelly Transfer Station

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Posted by Newry Times News on Feb 13 2015. Filed under Business, Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry