Tipperary County Council has approved a Budget of €248 million for next year – but not without some controversy.
The Commercial Rates charged to local businesses will go up 5.5 percent in 2025 but the executive says it will still be one of the lowest in the country.
After long debates on various sections a proposal was finally adopted to take €400,000 from Climate Action and strategic Workforce planning to create a fund that can be used for various local issues including tackling dereliction which was one of the sticking points today.
Fine Gael Cllr Marie Murphy’s proposal was passed by 28 votes to 8 with 4 absent.
The CEO of the local Authority has admitted that says tough decisions had to be made about raising the commercial rates.
Sinead Carr says services like roads maintenance would have to be cut if extra income wasn’t found to offset the rampant inflation over recent years which has seen operating costs got up by over 20%.
Sinn Fein’s Annemarie Ryan Shiner was one of the Councillors voting against the budget after making various counter proposals during the debates.
She says this budget will punish local businesses because the government is refusing to properly fund the local authority.
