DONEGAL County Council lost out on over €14m of Commercial Rates deemed collectable in 2022.
The Council collected €28,778,211 in 2022, but the value of collectable commercial rates was reported as €43,095,303 – a difference of €14,317,092.
The total value of rates bills issued during 2022 was €37,293,095 which represents an increase of €1,022,908 on the value of the 2021 demands.
The report details that 4,575 customers received Commercial Rate Bills in 2022, in respect of 6,037 properties.
At the beginning of 2022, €14,607,087 of commercial rates arrears were carried over from the pervious year.
However, €4.7m in commercial rates were written off owing to vacant properties – this represents 69 per cent of the uncollectable total in 2022.
A further €1,986,950 was written off as Covid waivers and €2.1m listed as uncollected for other reasons.
The other reasons include liquidation/receivership, community and voluntary properties, domestic and derelict, government department exempt and miscellaneous.
Closing Arrears on December 31 2022 was listed as €14,317,092, while doubtful arrears were listed as €6,043,768, this portion of doubtful arrears carried forward are deemed unlikely to be collected.
The Commercial Rates Collection rate for 2022 was 78 per cent, up from previous years. In 2021, 70 per cent of rates were collected while in 2020 61 per cent of domestic rates were collected and 76 per cent of rates were collected in 2019.
The report details that the rates collected during the pandemic decreased by millions as in 2020 €14,797,548 was collected while in 2021, €19,779,211 in commercial rates was collected.
The figure for 2022 has returned to pre-pandemic levels when compared to 2019 (€27,746,968) and 2018 (€26,675,454).
The report, which was compiled by Head of Finance, Richard Gibson details, “Understandably, the global pandemic and the measures introduced in the interest of public health impacted on the ability of many businesses to discharge their Commercial Rates liabilities from early 2020.
“This has inevitably had an impact on collection performance. There have been significant other financial challenges for businesses in 2022, most notably significantly higher energy costs.
“Additionally, the cost-of-living crisis for customers, high inflation generally, and the continuing global economic impact of the war in Ukraine, have proven very challenging for many businesses.”
In closing, Mr Gibson said the task of managing Commercial Rates accounts since 2020 has remained challenging when compared with previous years.
“Despite these challenges, €28,778,211 was collected in 2022. This is not an insignificant sum, and the Council is very grateful to those ratepayers who were able to discharge their liabilities in 2022.”
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere
SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT EDITION TODAY
and get access to our archive editions dating back to 2007(CLICK ON THE TITLE BELOW TO SUBSCRIBE)