Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council has approved a rates rise of almost 5% for homes and businesses for the 2025/26 financial year.
A special meeting at Mossley Mill on Monday evening opened with an acknowledgement of the death of former Antrim Ulster Unionist councillor and former first citizen Jim Montgomery on February 3.
Chairing the meeting, Mayor Neil Kelly said tributes will be paid at a full meeting of the council later this month.
Alliance councillor Julie Gilmour proposed accepting the recommendation to approve the 4.96% increase.
She spoke of the need to maintain the “exceptional service and vision” achieved through the Best UK Council award in 2024.
She went on to say the new rate “could have been less than what has been proposed”. However, she reported an increased National Insurance cost to the council of £1m.
Ms Gilmour indicated that compensation by the Labour Government to local authorities in the UK will not be paid to local councils in Northern Ireland.
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Seconding the recommendation, Ulster Unionist Vera McWilliam said the rise would amount to an additional £36 per year or 70 pence per week for households and businesses.
“All parties have worked hard to keep the increase as low as possible knowing the financial pressures that many ratepayers are under,” she said.
“Like other organisations, the council have been impacted by external pressures, such as increases in National Insurance contributions, but officers have worked hard to deliver significant savings and absorb additional costs.”
Ms McWilliam pointed out the rate proposed continues a “commitment to deliver excellent front-line services, health and well-being of citizens, investment in facilities and regeneration across the borough”.
She continued: “The rate increase means this council still has the lowest average rate increase of all 11 councils since local government was reformed in 2015.”
The Mayor said he commended each elected member on the work put into the estimates. “I believe we have arrived at a very good number this year,” he added.
Ulster Unionist councillor Mark Cosgrove said: “I think it is tremendous that we have worked as a team.
“The four main parties, unlike any other council in this province, have worked together, have agreed and disagreed and once again, delivered a really good outcome for our citizens.
“Never let us take for granted collaborative cross-party working that is so lacking in many other places. Let us use the political maturity going forward.”
Mr Cosgrove went on to thank members for their contributions to workshops and to the “healthy debate”.
“None of us have got everything we want,” he stated.
Mr Cosgrove said the rate has been unanimously agreed, which he said, he believed should “never be taken for granted”.