Questions & Answers
A few key questions and answers
Q.How did Falkirk becom e one of the pilot BIDs?
A. Falkirk Town Centre Management Ltd applied to the Scottish Executive, along with many other towns and cities in Scotland, to become one of six Scottish BID pilots. Falkirk, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Bathgate and Clackmannanshire Business Parks were selected by the Scottish Executive to receive funding to implement a BID.
Q. Who is paying for the preliminary BID work leading to the ballot?
A. The Scottish Executive are funding all 6 pilot Scottish BIDS
Q.Why should I pay for a BID when I already pay my business rates?
A. Business rates are an often misunderstood national tax collected by the Council on behalf of the government. The government distributes the money raised throughout the country. As a result, the money you pay does not always reflect the service provided by the local Council. Local authorities are regulated, and must achieve minimum standards in terms of services such as cleanliness, lighting etc. They have no statutory obligation to undertake many services that businesses perhaps would wish.
Through the BID process, Falkirk businesses are going to be given an opportunity to fund additional improvements / services aimed at improving the collective business trading environment within the BID area of the town centre.
Q. Will the levy raised via the Falkirk BID be absorbed into Council budgets?
A. The Falkirk BID is a Business led initiative, and every £ of the BID levy will be spent in the BID area on projects or services the businesses have collectively chosen.
Q. How much will the BID levy cost me?
A. After much consultation the Falkirk BID Steering Group propose to charge a 1% levy to all businesses in the BID Area. The Falkirk BID Steering Group propose to charge a levy of 1% to all eligible businesses in the BID area. However, this figure will be determined after consultation with the businesses.
Q. Who will manage the BID?
A. The Falkirk BID will run as a not-for-profit Company Limited by Guarantee. The BID will be run by a small team of staff and a board consisting primarily of representatives from the business community. The BID company will be accountable to its members, reporting on its progress and performance at regular intervals to ensure it delivers what is expected by the businesses.
The following table gives an indication of how much a business is likely to pay per annum based on a 1%, 1.25% and a 1.50% levy.
Rateable value of your business unit |
1% levy cost per annum |
1% levy cost per month |
1.25% levy cost per annum |
1.25% levy cost per month |
1.50% levy cost per annum |
1.50% levy cost per month |
£5.000 |
£50.00 | £4.16 | £62.50 | £5.20 | £75.00 | £6.25 |
| £8.000 |
£80.00 | £6.66 | £100.00 | £8.33 | £120.00 | £10.00 |
£10.000 |
£100.00 | £8.33 | £125.00 | £10.42 | £150.00 | £12.50 |
| £15.000 |
£150.00 | £12.50 | £187.50 | £15.62 | £225.00 | £18.75 |
£20.000 |
£200.00 | £16.66 | £250.00 | £20.83 | £300.00 | £25.00 |
| £30.000 |
£300.00 | £25.00 | £375.00 | £31.25 | £450.00 | £37.50 |
£50.000 |
£500.00 | £41.66 | £625.00 | £52.10 | £750.00 | £62.50 |
£100.000 |
£1000.00 | £83.33 | £1,250.00 | £104.17 | £1500.00 | £125.00 |
£200.000 |
£2000.00 | £166.66 | £2,500.00 | £208.33 | £3000.00 | £250.00 |
£500.000 |
£5000.00 | £416.66 | £6,250.00 | £520.83 | £7250.00 | £604.16 |
Q. What will the money from the BID levy be spent on?
A.The Falkirk BID has undertaken consultation with businesses by means of questionnaire to discover what additional projects and improvements the businesses of Falkirk town centre would like. The ideas and comments drawn from the questionnaire will form the basis for the BID Proposal. In due course, the BID Summary and BID Proposal will be sent to all businesses in the BID area, and will also be available as a download.
The Falkirk BID has identified six potential themes and various projects for the proposed BID area.
- Safe & Secure – For the Falkirk BID to increase safety for businesses, employees and visitors to Falkirk town centre
- Clean & Attractive – For the Falkirk BID to work with the Council and other service providers to improve the current level of cleanliness of the BID area and to make it more attractive
- Accessibility – For Falkirk BID to promote awareness of good transport access to the BID area and make the area easier to navigate.
- Perception & Image – For Falkirk BID to build on the existing pride of the town to spread a positive image of Falkirk locally nationally and internationally.
- Marketing & Promotion – For Falkirk BID to increase the existing level of marketing material and promotional activity to boost footfall in the town centre.
- Facilitation – For Falkirk BID to act as a collective voice to identify issues and solutions for businesses and to represent them to Falkirk council and other organisations.
Q. When will a BID ballot take place?
A. Spring 2008.
Q. Who will pay the BID levy?
A. If the ballot is successful in Spring 2008, every non-domestic ratepayer located within the BID area will be charged a small mandatory levy of between 1% and 1.50% of their rateable value – full details of this will be provided to every non-domestic ratepayer in the forthcoming Business Plan.
Q. How long would a BID last for?
A. The Falkirk Steering Group have voted to run for a period of 3 years.
Q. Who will manage the BID?
A. The Falkirk BID will run as a not-for-profit Company Limited by Guarantee. The BID will be run by a small team of staff and a voluntary board consisting primarily of representatives from the business community. The BID company will be accountable to its members, reporting on its progress and performance at regular intervals to ensure it delivers what is expected by the businesses.
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