Fermanagh and Omagh District Council (FODC) has increased its district rate for the fourth year in a row.

The district rate was increased by three per cent for 2018-19.

At a meeting last Thursday, a slim majority of Councillors voted for a three per cent increase because it would generate an extra £457,000 which will help kick-start a £1.5 million refurbishment of play parks over the next few years.

The total amount to be raised by rate payers for local services and infrastructure is £43.7 million. 

Its capital plan for the forthcoming year is £10.5 million and, over the next three years, it plans to spend £25.4 million on infrastructure projects.

One of the key capital projects under the 2018-19 capital plan is ‘Project Citizen’ which will see £650,000 being spent on refurbishing The Grange Council offices in Omagh and £200,000 on Enniskillen Townhall council offices.

Back in 2015, when the 26 Councils in Northern Ireland first merged into 11, the Minister in charge of the reform process, Mark H. Durkan, said the “significant costs” that would occur at the beginning of the amalgamation process would “pale into insignificance … when offset against the savings that would be yielded in the medium to long term.”
Council papers state that this £850,000 refurbishment work to the two Council Headquarters will “consolidate the number of administrative buildings and improve access and customer experience.”

Other infrastructure projects, some of which are dependent on securing funding from external sources, are:

* Improving and enhancing access to the countryside to include lakes and forests (£1m)
* Village Renewal Scheme to renew and develop 15 villages across the district (£745k of total project cost £1.2m)
* Refurbishment and upgrade of community centres and facilities across the district (£420k)
* Improvements to recycling facilities (£900k) and development of Drummee landfill site (£250k)
* First phase of roll out of new road name signage across the district, to include road names and townlands (£425k)
* Upgrades to sports pitches, play areas, public conveniences, general cemetery works and car parks (£840k)
* First phase of Enniskillen Public Realm Scheme (£150k of a total project cost of £5.2m)
A £33.3m net revenue budget has also been allocated to deliver Council services across the district. 
During last Thursday’s Council meeting in Enniskillen Townhall, a financial officer estimated that, if the Northern Ireland Executive increases the regional rate by three per cent, an average home in Fermanagh valued at £110,000 will see an annual increase of £25 on its rates bill and an average business will pay an extra £265 on its rates bill. A 20 per cent transitional relief will be in operation in 2018-19, but this is the final year of the reduction to local rates bills.