The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
CLARE County Council is facing a potential deficit of €19.7 million as a result of the collapse in economic activity due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it emerged this week. Deputy Cathal Crowe has called on the government to intervene with additional funding to prevent the need for the local authority to request businesses to pay commercial rates next August. Even though local businesses have got a three-month commercial rates payment deferral, Deputy Crowe believes the government needs to address this issue to avoid a situation where the council will be seeking rates that are already owed. The Meelick Deputy said it is unfair to pubs and restaurants to be paying full commercial rates next Autumn. He pointed out a lot of the council’s expenditure can’t be cut because one of its biggest outlays is its wage bill. If the council has to reduce expenditure, he expressed fears that works on capital projects such as roads will have to be scaled …
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