Tipperary Council seeks 6% hike in commercial rates for 2025, pre-Budget documents reveal

Tipperary County Council is recommending its elected members approve a 6% rise in the commercial rate tax levied to the county’s businesses to cover the extra costs faced by the local authority, according to pre-Budget proposals sent to councillors this week.

The council argues this rate increase would bring in an extra €2m revenue to the council to cover the extra funding it needs for public lighting, tertiary roads maintenance, the refurbishment of housing voids, climate action retrofitting of council homes, the roll-out of CCTV and the increased costs of maintaining its buildings, utilities and systems upgrades.

Documents setting out the council’s commercial rates increase recommendation point out Tipperary has the fourth lowest commercial rates multiplier in the country and that the local authority has been faced with a “significant increase” in the costs of doing business over the past few years.

The 6% increase proposal is expected to be fervently opposed and debated among councillors who will be striving to negotiate at least a lower rate hike with Council management ahead of the annual Budget meeting on December 6.

Cllr Michael ‘Chicken’ Brennan, who is Labour’s Tipperary South General Election candidate, has declared he won’t be supporting a 6% commercial rates rise due to the impact it will have on the county’s businesses, many of which are struggling to survive.

“We should be looking at other ways to get this income,” he said.

The Killenaule man said he is approaching businesses and getting their views this week.

He revealed he is hoping to host a public meeting in Clonmel on November 26 to discuss the business community’s concerns about commercial rates, town centre dereliction, anti-social behaviour and the cost impact of the change over to a hard water supply in Clonmel.

Pictured below Labour's Tipperary South candidate Cllr Michael 'Chicken' Brennan