With a number of businesses around Mayo really struggling at the moment, one Castlebar auctioneer has claimed that rising rates and operation charges are set to test the commercial sector to its limits. At next Monday’s budget meeting a 10 per cent increase in water charges is to be proposed for adoption by members. According to Castlebar Chamber of Commerce member Tommy Collins the big problem for businesses at the moment is that there is simply little or no incentive for job creation.
“People are defaulting on their rates and their taxes because they are all penal and it’s going to get worse. If you rent apartments or houses you now have to pay a levy of €200 per unit, which for myself as a landlord, letting agent, and auctioneer, is prohibitive. The property market hasn’t hit bottom yet because of yet another government quango, NAMA, and we’re expected to carry the shortfall. The reality is we are going to go into a major bankruptcy if people don’t stop all these quangos. In the US rates are based on whatever a location is making, whereas here everyone is levied the same right across the board. It’s not conducive to employment or keeping things going. Most people out there working in business — if they lose their business they can’t even draw the dole. Someone has to say stop to all this because the political parties clearly are not.”
Regarding the cold snap over Christmas, Mr Collins added: “Castlebar suffered horrendously due to the bad weather, people couldn’t get in, roads weren’t kept clear. It was a joke having the NRA telling people there was enough salt stocks when they mixed them with quarry dust that destroyed every carpet and mat in town.”
However Mr Collins believed that Castlebar would hold its own in 2011 due to the high number of public servants employed in the county town. “We have a huge amount of State workers and ironically it is this fact that sustained Castlebar through the bad times and will again.”
According to Mark Cadden of Bar One on Rush Street in Castlebar, the real problem is that businesses are having to keep cutting from the ground up but matching cuts are not being made by local authorities from the top down. Echoing sentiments shared by many Castlebar Chamber members at their New Year meeting held in the town this week, he said: “Two years ago there was a standard charge for water rates. I do appreciate where water has to be paid but it’s increased nearly 100 per cent on what it originally was. In bad times businesses have taken that on board and are struggling to pay it. A new hike following next Monday’s meeting however could just prove the nail in the coffin for some.”
Trying to keep water demand low in the hospitality sector is extremely difficult, Mr Cadden noted, in light of simple things such as people opting to drink ‘free’ water with their meals in a bid to save disposable income.
“The universal levy introduced also affects all staff, employees, and will hit everyone’s pockets, in turn reducing the spend people have to go out for meals, etc. This would be a huge concern for us. In all business everyone has had to cut back on overheads, costs, and sales value of items in order to encourage customers to come in. Unfortunately what we are doing in this regard from the ground up is not being paid back to us in kind from the top down”
However Mr Cadden remains optimistic for the future as his dedication to his business remains.
“We’ll adjust our business in any fashion to survive. We can only do our best but there is no question we intend to be here for the long haul.”
