Bradley Bytes – A sort of political column by Dara Bradley

News that Galway City Council wants to impose a 15% hike in commercial rates paid by city businesses has infuriated retailers and the hospitality industry. And who could blame them?

Like homeowners who have been hit with a 15% increase in Local Property Tax next year, businesses are already stretched from the recent explosion in the cost of living.

City Hall published a document last week outlining its plans to increase commercial rates, with an explainer detailing everything the local authority planned to do with the extra cash.

But what the memo conveniently ignored to mention was that many city businesses had already faced massive increases in their annual commercial rates bill, following a revaluation last year.

During that revaluation process, some family-run ‘high street businesses’ endured eye-watering increases.

One retailer on Shop Street told us their commercial rates had jumped by 70% in the revaluation – up from €22,000 to €38,000. Another city centre store used to pay €3,000 but that jumped by 200% to €9,000.

You’d want to be selling an awful lot more produce just to stand still . . . and yet Galway City Council wants to add another 15% increase in the commercial rate.

The Council said just 30% of businesses would pay more than €1,000 every year as a result of this measure, with a majority (70%) paying less than €1,000.

In isolation, that’s not a huge amount of money for most businesses. But when you factor in the extra rates bill that many have already endured from the revaluation process – and when the fear is that the money raised will just be shovelled into the black hole that is the Council’s new offices in Crown Square – it is understandable small businesses are contemplating legal action and withholding their rates.

Pictured: Mayor of Galway Peter Keane (left) canvassing with Fianna Fáil colleague Gráinne Seoige (centre) in Mervue last week. His casting vote at Monday’s City Council meeting to increase LPT could become an election issue.