Fair deal for rural ratepayers

A number of Sinn Fin proposals to cut the rates further were not accepted but the party said that they were satisfied that they had secured projects and funding which would benefit communities.

Cllr Anita Cavlan commented: “In the past years Sinn Fin have voted against the rates because we believed that money has been wasted unnecessarily and that many areas, in particular rural areas, had been neglected. A number of Sinn Fin proposals to cut the rates further were not accepted this year but I am satisfied that we have secured a good deal for rural ratepayers.

“We fought for the inclusion of 4,000 for community festivals and money has also been set aside for community based events such as the Special Olympics, Armoy Races and ‘Roon the Toon’.

“The original rate presented to us by council officials was 24%. We have worked to bring this down to just over 7% and would have liked to have it got it down further but there are significant costs which have to be incurred in relation to waste management, Landfill Directives, etc.

“We have met with community groups across the district regarding proposals for community facilities and we hope to secure a commitment to provide some of these over the coming months.”

Rasharkin Councillor Daith McKay welcomed funding set aside for community facilities:

“30,000 will be set aside for Drumbolcan Park in Rasharkin as well as a number of significant community projects in rural parts of the district. We will continue to work with other parties on the council to ensure that these commitments are secured and work goes ahead.

“The TUV proposal to cut community relations funding comes as no surprise and we made it quite clear that such a cutback was unacceptable. Our proposal was supported by all the other parties on the council and that is to be welcomed. This proposal from Councillor Patterson is unsurprising given the prehistoric politics that her party espouses."

Dunloy & Cloughmills Councillor Philip McGuigan added that further cuts could have been made:

“We proposed that the budget for councillors to go on conferences be cut completely. It has instead been cut back to 3,000 approx. For our part we will not be using this allowance, I haven’t used this allowance in my nine years serving on council and the Sinn Fin group believed that this would have been an easier cut to stomach than others. We also proposed that the Mayor’s allowance and Twinning Association funding be cut.

“I welcome the fact that bonfire clearance funds has been reduced from 8,000 to 4,000. I don’t believe that ratepayers want their money spent on this and more work needs to be carried out to mitigate against such an expense.

“Cloughmills is somewhere where there is a need for more community facilities and I believe that we are now moving toward realising that goal on the basis of talks with other parties on the council.

“In my nine years of council work the co-operation seen between the parties has never been greater and that demonstrates that local representatives are working together more on the basis of equality. That is to be welcomed but we are not nave and recognise theres still a great deal of inequality and sectarianism within local politics which needs to be tackled. However we are moving in the right direction.”