RATES BILL SEES ANIMAL RESCUE SHOP ON THE BRINK
SOUTH EAST ANIMAL RESCUE HIT WITH €2,600 BILL
AN Enniscorthy town centre charity shop has said that it will be forced to close its doors after being hit with a rates bill for over €2,600. South East Animal Rescue, which helps to re-home dogs, cats and ponies that would otherwise end up in the Wexford County Council pound, has been open on Slaney Street for the past five years and was never eligible for rates before.
Under a new system, owner Jackie Polson said she was told to make an application to the Valuations Office in relation to an exemption and was told she had been rejected, despite having a registered charity number.
‘If we have to pay these bills, we would have to close, it’s as simple as that,’ she said. ‘We’re not the only ones in this position either. Other charity shops have received these letters too.’
THE owners of an Enniscorthy town centre charity shop have been threatened with legal action if they don’t settle a rates bill for over €2,600, despite having always been exempt from paying rates before.
Jackie Polson of the South East Animal Rescue shop on Slaney Street says that she received the letter threatening to bring her to court last week, and that the shop, which helps re-home dogs, cats and ponies which would ordinarily end up in the Wexford County Council pound, would have to close if they were now required to stump up the rates charges each year.
‘If we have to pay these bills, we would have to close, it’s as simple as that,’ she said. ‘At the moment, it’s just about paying for itself when you factor in all the costs associated with re-homing animals. South East Animal Rescue is 100% volunteer run. Nobody gets paid and every penny we make goes back into the local community to vets and to buy supplies for the animals we take. We’ve also saved Wexford County Council a small fortune over the years by taking in animals that they would have had to take.’
Having had the charity shop on Slaney Street for around five years now, Jackie says that ordinarily a rates bill would arrive, she would forward on their registered charity number and that would be the end of it. This year, however, she was informed by the rates collector that the Valuations Office were now involved and when she got in touch with them, she says she was told that charity shops were always eligible for rates.
District Manager Liz Hore said that charity shops were now required to apply to the Valuations Office for a rates exemption, as it was seen as a way of levelling the playing field with competing businesses who are paying rates. She said that of the 76 charity shops in County Wexford, only one third had applied to the Valuations Office. Jackie, however, says that she made the application to the Valuations Office, but her application was rejected. On Friday, she was in touch with Head of Finance at Wexford County Council Annette O’Neill who said that they would help to appeal the decision on behalf of South East Animal Rescue. However, this leaves Jackie with a dilemma.
‘I’m told that the appeal process could take up to two months,’ she said. ‘That would be two more months of rates that I’d owe if the appeal was unsuccessful. At the moment, I think I’ll have to close up and see what happens.’
Jackie also gained massive attention on social media after posting pictures of seven empty shops on Slaney Street, saying that it would now be eight as a result of this rates dispute.
‘It’s not like I’ve ignored everything and hoped it would go away,’ she said.
‘I’ve engaged the whole way along. The irony is we applied for an amenity grant back in January and we got word that we were one of the organisations chosen and would be receiving a grant on Monday (yesterday). On one hand they recognise that we are doing a public service and are awarding us a grant, and on the other they are trying to charge us rates.
‘You couldn’t make it up.’