As noted last week, Finance Minister, Nigel Dodds promised to help out councils struggling through the economic gloom to maintain services, but he had to wait until officials carried out the appropriate calculations, passed their GCSE Maths and found where they had left the calculator.
All that being completed, Dodds unveiled the rescue package. The £8m package included £4m for councils who may have had to hike the rates to householders by as much 10%.
Also rebates granted to the Ministry of Defence and British Telecom are to be offset, as is an increase in the cost of collecting the rates.
The Northern Ireland Local Government Association were reported to be “chuffed” and citizens across the country astounded to find a Minister who listened and officials who managed a process in weeks rather than decades.
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