Joint Meeting with the Finance Minister
A joint delegation from Ballymena Borough Chamber of Commerce & Industry represented by the President Thomas Mckillen, Ballymena Town Centre Development Limited represented by the Chair Terry Robb and the Ballymena Town Centre Development Limited Business Support Group represented by Audrey Wales recently met with the Finance Minister Simon Hamilton to discuss the forthcoming Rates Revaluation.
L-R: Terry Robb (Chair BTCD Ltd.), Finance Minister Simon Hamilton, Mayor Cllr. Audrey Wales MBE and Thomas McKillen (President BBCCI)
The meeting was organised by Colin Neill and was in response to concern from local businesses on various issues regarding rates. At the meeting we took the opportunity to discuss:
- The 2015 date for Rates Revaluations. We highlighted to the Minister our desire to ensure this date was adhered to and were comforted by his response that he was very firm in his conviction that this date would not be moved as he fully understood the desire of local businesses to understand what the Rates Revaluation would mean for their business. We were further comforted as the Minister informed us that Land & property Services should have completed the revaluation exercise by Q3 2014 and that at this stage businesses could find out what their new rating valuations were going to be for 2015. This would then give businesses the opportunity to appeal their forthcoming rates valuation in advance of their implementation in Q2 2015. We will share further information on this is in due course
- The Appeals system for businesses who are dissatisfied with their rates calculations. The Minister confirmed that all appeals are taken seriously and investigated fully and asked us to share the details of the Appeal system – you can access this on the link attached. If any businesses need assistance on how to complete this process please call Grace Gillen on 028 25635945
- Rates Relief – We also asked that the small business rate relief be considered beyond the cut off date of 2015 if necessary and the Minister confirmed this was currently under review
- Variances in how rates are set for particular shops e.g. Charity Shops. The Minister again listened to the views presented and again confirmed that the legislation was clear in that Charity shops received rates free benefits provided they did not sell “new” goods. He clarified that if a Charity shop did sell new goods that their rates should then be set to take into account the percentage of turnover generated by sales of new goods.
Overall this was an extremely positive engagement and the Minister on several occasions commented on how good it was to see the various bodies in Ballymena working together for the betterment of the area and he commended all the bodies for the excellent work they continue to do
We now look forward to welcoming the Minister to Ballymena on Thursday 24th October when he is attending a meeting with the Mayor, local Councillors and representatives of the local Ballymena Borough Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Ballymena Town Centre Development Limited.
