Hundreds of establishments are still waiting to get their money back from the council

Hundreds of establishments are still waiting to get their money back from the council | MDB files

Humphrey CarterPalma27/08/2021 09:54
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Palma City Council, the very one which not so long again waged war on bar and restaurant terraces with a plan to more or less wipe them out in the centre of the capital, currently owes bar and restaurant owners a small fortune.

One of the council’s Covid pandemic U-turns was not only to allow bars and restaurants to expand their terraces to absorb car parking spaces but also scrap the rates normally paid to have a terrace.

However, a very large number of bars and restaurants paid their terrace rates before the council decided on the pandemic postponement.

The council very kindly announced that any establishment which had paid its terrace rates for the year would be entitled to a refund.

However, it would appear that the council has yet to pay up, leaving a large number of establishments in the lurch and in desperate need of their cash.

The makeshift road car park terraces have to be removed at the end of September, so many establishments are going to see their outside seating revenue fall, just at a time when some may have managed to have recovered some of the revenue lost due to the Covid restrictions.

So, now would be a good moment for the council to honour its word and give the bars and restaurants their refund.