'PEACE' CASH ROW ERUPTS

The dispute broke out at the end of several weeks of meetings which saw a reduction in Ballymoney Council's rates estimates from an eye-watering projected rise of more than 20 per cent to an inflation-busting 7.46 per cent rise.

Sinn Fein and the DUP united to ensure money is kept in the Council's budget to spend on community relations - which is essentially peace work.

Many people see such schemes as vital after a year of inter-community strife which saw a big rise in the number of reported sectarian attacks.

Official police statistics showed there were 216 sectarian attacks in the Ballymoney Borough in the six months between April and September last year which came at a time when there was much tension over events which mainly centred on Rasharkin.

Rasharkin Sinn Fein councillor Daithi McKay, branded the TUV proposal on the community relations budget as "backward".

TUV councillor Audrey Patterson confirmed to the Times she wanted to save 22,000 by cutting the community relations cash but she declined to explain why.

After the meeting, in a statement, Cllr McKay continued on the attack.

He said: "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."

Ballymoney Council's estimated Community Relations budget for 2010/11 is around 125,000 but of that figure the net cost to ratepayers is around 22,000.

The post of a Community Relations Officer at the Council is currently vacant but it is set to be filled, possibily on a secondment basis.

There were other disputes at the rates meeting with Cllr Patterson herself slamming the 7.46 per cent rise - which is the fourth biggest percentage rise out of the 26 councils in Northern Ireland this year.

However, when it comes to the pence per pound paid by householders and businesses, Ballymoney still has reasonably respectable positions in the league tables with household rates mid-table although business rates are seventh highest.

Cllr Patterson said with the economic situation the way it is the percentage rise is too high and she added the rise comes at a time when there are redundancies being announced almost every day and there has been many job losses in Ballymoney.

With that in mind she thought there were plenty of other reductions which could have been made by councillors and in the end she did not vote in favour of accepting the 7.46 per cent rise. Nor did Ulster Unionist Party duo James Simpson and Tom McKeown.

With inflation running at under three per cent the new rise busts that and the householder will now have to pay 0.3328 pence in the pound whilst businesses' pence in the pound rate is 25.9322.

Rates are made up of the Council part of the rate and also a regional rate. The regional rate for households has been frozen this year so in real terms the householder in Ballymoney Borough will face a rates rise of around 3.5 per cent in April and not 7.46 per cent.

Council Chief Executive John Dempsey said councillors decided that the sports development post and a tourism development officer will stay vacant to keep costs down.

He said councillors' conference budget was reduced from 6,000 to 3,000.

But the Council's small grants scheme is continuing and 8,000 has been set aside for a Community Festivals Fund.

1.5 million has been set aside for capital projects although councillors have yet to decide where exactly that money will be spent.

Mr Dempsey also said that contrary to rumours there was never a formal proposal put forward at any of the rates meetings concerning closing the Riada Centre on Sundays.

He said it was possible that may have been in the mind of somebody but that it never actually was put forward at a rates meeting.

And he said suggestions of a 'crisis' at the Council didn't reflect the true picture which was of staff and councillors working hard to reduce the rate to as low a figure as possible.

There has also been much speculation about the level of Ballymoney Council's cash reserves and Mr Dempsey said the reserves are "adequate".

At the rates meeting several councillors thanked Council officers for working hard on the rates figures.

Cllr Ian Stevenson (DUP) said councillors also spent much time on the process and he said it was good no reduction was made to the community relations budget "because we felt that was important".

And, in response to recent press speculation which spoke of a 'crisis' at the Council, he added: "At no time did we ever feel in any crisis".

Sinn Fein councillor Anita Cavlan said there was "a lot of stress" for everybody in fixing the rates figure and she said she was happy capital projects are included and she felt many communities will benefit.

Ald Simpson said he had proposed a 6.56 per cent rise.

Cllr McKay welcomed funding being set aside for Drumbolcan Park in Rasharkin and was glad there is a pot for Community Festivals and he also backed funding for the Special Olympics and motorbike events in Armoy and Ballymoney and he said it was to be welcomed that many parties agreed that the Community Relations Budget has to stay intact and in turn "there will be work to address outstanding issues".

Cllr John Finlay (DUP) said getting to a rate of 7.46 per cent from an initial projected rise of over 20 per cent was "no mean task".

He hoped a scheme in Cloughmills will be backed out of the capital cash and said the play area in the village is a "disaster".

He added: "I think it would be good to do something for Cloughmills where we have not done things for years".

He also hoped a scheme in Balnamore will go ahead.

Cllr Finlay added: "I know these are hard times. We all are feeling the pince and the Council does as well. Most of the capital projects are being funded by money that we would have been putting in to landfill but we can fund it in different ways."

He said there is no "fat" around the rates rise and he said the figures were reduced "as much as humanly possible".

He added: "I think we can sell this to the ratepayers as a job well done."

Ald Simpson said the DUP and Sinn Fein backing of the 7.46 per cent rise reinforced the view there is now a local coalition in Ballymoney between the parties which he said was "most remarkable".

"All principles have gone out the window," he added.

Cllr Malachy McCamphill (SDLP) said they could not continue to keep rates rises down and said money could not be taken out of reserves to "cushion" the blow.

He welcomed the retention of a Community Relations budget along with cash being set aside for community development and capital projects.

He did not think the DUP and Sinn Fein in Ballymoney were in coalition and thought Ald Simpson was not going to agree to the rates rise "no matter what was proposed".

Cllr Stevenson said the 'coalition' was also a surprise to him and said Ald Simpson was present at all the rates meetings and at no time was he excluded.

Cllr John Finlay said Ald Simpson's party was in government with Sinn Fein before the DUP.

In response to Cllr Patterson saying councillors could have found more reductions, Cllr Finlay said if they had taken the list she submitted it would not have reduced matters.

Cllr McKay said what they had negotiated "does deliver for communities" and he said working class areas like Glebeside will benefit.

Cllr Philip McGuigan (Sinn Fein) said ratepayers will feel a bit of displeasure at paying slightly more but said hard decisions have to be made in terms of which services can be provided and the cost on the rates.

He added: "I have been a councillor in Ballymoney eight or nine years and this year the atmosphere has been the best that I have witnessed and now parties are negotiating and compromising. That is not a coalition but its working together to provide the best rate.

"Every citizen will welcome working together. We will continue to have disagreements but it is healthy that good points regardless of where they come from can be taken forward."

Ald Simpson said that for the majority of rates meetings Sinn Fein had only one councillor present.

DUP, Sinn Fein and SDLP councillors voted to bring in the rates rise of 7.46 per cent but Cllr Simpson voted against and there were abstentions from Cllr McKeown and Cllr Patterson.

After the meeting, Ald Simpson issued a statement describing the process of setting the rates as a "shambles".

He said: "Two weeks ago I made a proposal that would have seen a maximum rates increase of 6.56 per cent. In fact if a proposed sale of Council assets was taken into account this would have reduced the increase to 5 per cent. However, this was not agreed.

"The press had been advised that the rate would be struck on the evening of Wednesday February 10. However, the Council failed to strike a rate.

"In the course of the next 36 hours the DUP proposed a series of budget cuts, followed at the last minute by a series of budget increases, turning the whole rates decision process into a shambles".

Ald Simpson said he voted against the rate increase on the grounds that the rate increase was "too high and secondly the proposed budget changes introduced at the last minute made meaningful discussion of the changes impossible."

* Over at Moyle Council there was confusion this week after official Department figures show Moyle had a household rate increase of 0.03 per cent as opposed to a zero per cent rise reported on recently which puts the household rate at 0.3750 in the pound which is the fourth highest in Northern Ireland whilst the non-domestic rate of 30.39 is the highest in the province.