Cork city and county councils green light their 2025 budgets

Both Cork City Council and Cork County Council have approved their budgets for 2025.

Cork County Council has agreed a budget of €516m, while their city counterparts agreed a budget of €325m.

The allocated spending for 2025 represents an increase of €32.6m in the city on the budget set out in 2024.

The proposal to increase commercial rates for traders by 2.5% was dismissed at the Cork City Council meeting, which further saw the ending of the rates incentive scheme payable for 2025 in 2026.

That scheme saw qualifying rate payers receive a 3.8% rebate on the first €4,000 of their bill in 2024.

To avoid an increase in rates for traders, Cork City Council chief executive Valerie O’Sullivan proposed five saving methods banded under one amendment — which included a saving of €537,000 from the ending of the rates incentive scheme.

Approved

While the amendments were approved as a whole by majority vote, with councillors voting 23 to three in favour of the budget, Green Party councillor Oliver Moran said that the decision to not raise the rates was a “spoof” and “dishonest to businesses”.

“Instead of increasing rates by 2.5%, the rates incentive scheme that gave small businesses [3.8%] back on their annual bill is being scrapped,” he told The Echo.

“I think that’s unfair to the smallest of businesses.”

Ms O’Sullivan stated that the composition of next year’s budget proved to be “very challenging”, and said its approval was “vital for the progression and maintenance of our city”.

Labour Party councillor Peter Horgan, who was in favour of the budget, said that it was important to pass the allocated spending as laid out by the chief executive given that “we need the city to operate in 2025”.

Meanwhile, in the county, elected members voted in favour of a 2% commercial rates increase which, due to an abatement, will lead to approximately 92% of the county’s rate payers paying less rates.

The final vote on the budget, which is up from €458.3m in 2024, was carried by 20 votes to 11 against with 14 abstentions.

The original proposal by the council executive had been for a rates increase of 3%, with a 3.5% abatement for all ratepayers. This abatement would increase proportionally up to a limit of €7,000.

Recess

Following a recess, Fianna Fáil councillor Gillian Coughlan proposed, as a compromise, a rate increase of 2% with the 3.5% increasing proportionally for bills up to €12,000.

Chief executive Moira Murrell said the budget would provide for a “very significant investment” across a range of services.

The proposal for a rates increase led to a lengthy debate among councillors, with many voicing objections to asking for a larger contribution from local businesses rather than central Government.

Objections

A number of councillors, who are small business owners outside of the council, voiced their objections to any proposed rate increase, citing increasing costs in terms of automatic pension enrolments and extra bank holidays.

Fianna Fáil councillors spoke in favour of their compromise proposal. Patrick Gerard Murphy said that anybody who voted against the compromise put forward by his party would be actually be voting for the current rates, which would lead to business owners facing a rates bill of up to €20,000 paying a higher annual rates bill.

According to his calculation, a rates payer faced with a bill of €20,000 would pay €20 less under the proposed scheme — as opposed to the scheme in force for 2024.