06 January 2009
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FAQ's
How is a BID funded?
What would it cost me?
Why don’t existing business rates pay for services a BID could deliver?
Can a BID go ahead even if only a small number of businesses vote?
Will the BID only deliver what large businesses want?
How is a BID funded?
Assuming the majority of businesses in the BID area (both in terms of number and rateable value) vote in favour of the business plan, all businesses in the BID area will pay a set levy. This money will be used to pay for the services and improvements that the BID provides.
A BID is also a mechanism for attracting funding from other sources, such as public sector bodies, depending on the projects involved.
What would it cost me?
Similarly to many established BIDs, if Essential Edinburgh goes ahead, the levy payable by businesses will be 1% of rateable value.
Businesses with a rateable value less than £25,000 will not be asked to vote and will not pay the levy.
Why don’t existing business rates pay for services a BID could deliver?
Business rates are spent on existing services across the city – they are not ring-fenced to the area in which they are raised. In fact the Council only has just over half of the business rates raised in Edinburgh to spend as the rest are redistributed around the country.A BID is a way of securing sustainable investment for additional services and projects over a 5-year period, without the red tape and bureaucracy that is often associated with public sector investment. Funds raised are controlled and spent in line with business priorities, by an organisation whose board members are drawn from the business community, and the money raised is spent in the BID area alone.