by Bernie English
However tenders received by the council puts the cost of providing the waiver to pensioners and the unemployed across the county at between €928,710 and €1,029,985.
AAA is proposing to raise the bin waiver allocation to €1,036,155 to allow it not only to be maintained in the city but extended to include unemployed people in the county.
“This could be funded without cutting any service, or affecting the rates for small or medium business by raising the rates 2 per cent for the top 1.8 per cent of companies, which would bring in the extra income of €519,155.66 needed”, AAA Councillor Cian Prendeville said.
“This measure would only affect a handful of very large companies, many of whom recently benefited from a big cut in their rate bill due to revaluation. As rates have been cut substantially over the last years in Limerick, it would still leave their rate bill lower than it was in 2007, while taxes for ordinary people have gone through the roof. These big corporations would still be paying a smaller rate here than they pay in Galway or Cork”, he said.
