Zero rate moves a step closer

It requires just another £68,000 to be cut from the council’s £26m budget for the zero stage to be reached.

The council’s estimates working group (EWG) told an in-committee meeting of the council that, with a month to go, they might even achieve a reduction.

They made it clear that the council rate – which already sits at the lowest record since the council was formed in 1973 – was just one-third of the total.

Council expenditure goes towards leisure, waste collection and up-keep of cemeteries, and is added to the regional rate (set by Stormont) to make up the total sum.

Councillor Joe Nelson, chair of the EWG, said they were “satisfied with the way things are going”.