Rates increases in Mayo to be highlighted at FG meeting today

DEPUTY Michael Ring has confirmed that he intends to raise the revaluation of properties in County Mayo by the Valuation Office, which is resulting in higher rates for businesses, at a Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting today (Wednesday).

The higher rates, he said, will have a damaging effect on businesses in Mayo.

Said Deputy Ring: “I am aware of businesses who have received proposed valuation certificates from the Valuation Office which will result in a rates liability of more than 200% on the previous year. For those businesses, it will simply not be viable for them to continue trading.”

The commercial rates payable in any year is calculated by multiplying the valuation of the property, set by the Valuation Office, by the Annual Rate on Valuation (ARV), which is set by the local authority.

“I intend to highlight this matter at parliamentary party level. We cannot allow businesses in Mayo to close as a result of their rates liability being drastically increased along with the increased costs of energy and electricity.

“This is an issue that I am asking Fine Gael to look at. The high cost of doing business will result in fewer people being able to trade at all.”