There is an arrhythmia in the economic heartbeat of the capital. The business improvement district (Bid), established in 2007 to nourish healthy commerce, seems, eight years later, to be missing a beat. Today, weathered by recession and rising costs, a groundswell of businesses has begun to mutiny.

Many see the Bid (rebranded “Dublin Town” in 2014) as a punitive double tax and in recent times hundreds have rallied for the right to opt out of what is a mandatory, levy-driven scheme.

Whatever one thinks of the services provided, the disgruntled say they should be funded solely from commercial rates. Dublin Town says the benefits it has bestowed on the city are numerous and of considerable value. All the while, temperatures are rising.

“Do you feel your business interests are not being represented by Bids and therefore they should now operate on a voluntary membership basis only?”

The pointed question sets out a petition circulated last June that has attracted, according to its organisers, more than 500 signatures so far. (They have a target of 1,000 before submitting it to the Dublin city manager).

Separately, a motion from independent councillor Mannix Flynn, a long-time critic, seeking a thorough audit and evaluation process will be tabled before Dublin City Council.

“Most [opposing] people feel there are absolutely zero benefits to the payment, that’s the main gripe a lot of people have,” says Kate O’Neill, who runs the Silver Trout jewellery shop on South King Street and is one of those behind the petition.

There is a perceived lack of transparency and communication, she says. “For most people they don’t actually provide any service and they say it is just another tax. Opt in or opt out. Lots of people are happy; but [for] those who feel they get absolutely no benefit, it should be voluntary.”

Legislative base

What O’Neill is referring to is the legislatively-based foundation on which the Bid system functions. It was introduced here in 2007 on foot of lobbying from the business community but the concept originated in Canada in 1971 and later spread across America and Europe.

“A group of businesses come together and decide firstly that they want enhanced services or a wider range of services, or new facilities or activities in an area,” the Department of the Environment explained at its conception. “These businesses decide that they are willing to pay for such services, facilities or activities” that would complement those offered by local authorities.

Payment comes as a percentage of commercial rates: 5.27 per cent in the case of Dublin city, which is collected by the rates office and distributed to the Bid company. Three have been established in Ireland so far (including Dún Laoghaire and Dundalk).

Dublin Town chief executive Richard Guiney is unsurprised by some of the criticism, and is steadfast. Armed with a war chest of achievements, his message is one of defiance; of letting the facts speak for themselves.

“We have to concentrate on why we were set up and that’s about getting footfall back in the city, it’s about increasing the market share for businesses in the city, it’s about being relevant,” he says.

He dismisses “opt-out” suggestions, believing, with some justification, it would be unfair to those of the 2,648 members who would stay in.

“The businesses who are paying want fairness. It is part of the collective good.”

With criticisms over transparency, Dublin Town can point to its audited annual accounts. In 2013 and 2014 it recorded total income of just over €3 million. Last year this was made up of €2.6 million in levies and €447,000 in unspecified “sponsorship and funding”.

Its 20 employees cost €755,000 in 2014, including Guiney’s salary of €110,000. It spent €1.1 million on public relations and marketing (which it says pales in comparison to the €2.5 million spent by Dundrum Town Centre) and €240,000 on cleaning and graffiti removal.

There are AGMs and individual meetings for members in its five sub-districts.

“Santa Clause doesn’t deliver the Christmas lights, we do,” Guiney says, addressing value for money, and selecting an historic source of friction as an example. What he is saying is: the Bid gets things done.

They work closely with gardaí on public safety; they have a large online presence and ambassadors steer customers toward shops.

“Local authorities aren’t going to market the city in the way we do. They are not going to do the large-scale and small-scale events,” he says, although, ironically, the Christmas market at St Stephen’s Green last year stoked considerable disquiet among some businesses.

For though many the issue will always be financial. Myles Tuthill, manager of the Central Hotel says it pays €99,000 a year in rates and €5,400 to the Bid.

“They don’t bring anyone into my hotel. Not one person in the years I have been there came in and said Bid sent me.”

Double taxation

Another frustrated petition supporter,

Jack Irwin

from Down to Earth, explains: “We are being double taxed. I don’t want to be part of the Bid now. I’m getting taxed by them and they are doing absolutely nothing for businesses.”

But according to a Millward Brown poll quoted in Dublin Town’s annual report, a “majority of Dubliners” saw improvement in the city centre over the last five years.

In this sense, much of its focus is on experience and environment, aside from merely scrubbing defaced walls.

Gardaí responded to more than 5,400 incident reports by the company, ranging from begging to on-street drug use and dealing, to street drinking, rough sleepers and illegal causal trading – an average of 15 reports a day in 2014.

Hugh Hourican of the Boar's Head pub on Capel Street says the Bid has brought about considerable change, particularly in addressing antisocial issues.

“We needed the north side of the city developed,” he says.

“If it hadn’t been involved, I would say, this would still be a no-man’s land. When you have these people you need to work with them. You need to be positive about things.”

Stephen Sealy, managing director of Brown Thomas, said various commercial efforts, including the Christmas lights, bring valuable footfall and help dissuade customers from "M50 shopping centres" such as Dundrum and Liffey Valley.

“It is important that the Bid help market the city centre as a destination and I genuinely believe that their activities help to attract more people into the city,” he says.

For many though, it’s not enough. Mannix Flynn, who as a board member is an internal agitator, and those who support his September motion – who now include the Restaurant Association of Ireland and the Licensed Vintners’ Association – want more scrutiny.

“You have in the region of 500 companies who wish to exit the Bid. Most allege they are getting absolutely no value for money,” he says. “People feel press- ganged into this and they face the threat of prosecution if they don’t pay.”

He believes the Bid should welcome a full-scale audit in order to address the “value for money” question and he is pushing the issue.

“The audit will go in there and examine every single penny and what it’s spent on and I think that is what is needed.”

No matter how fractious the dispute becomes, democracy will prevail. The Bid system is underpinned by a rate-payer plebiscite every five years. A rejection of Dublin Town in 2017 would spell its demise; an extension of its mandate might quell the disquiet.

And none of this is virgin territory. In Dún Laoghaire, where the Bid was adopted in March 2014, the issue quickly became divisive. Of 805 businesses balloted, just 393 voted, resulting in a 215 to 178 split in its favour, or 55 per cent.

At the time, councillor Victor Boyhan said the economic problems of Dún Laoghaire were "more profound than [would be solved by] putting up balloons and Christmas lights".

And yet, by the end of November its Bid was raising a victory flag of sorts above the town. Fifty new businesses had opened, with more to come, it said. There was free wifi, a new music festival. More than €135,000 had been saved in renegotiated utility bills.

Dublin Town points to similar achievements in spite of the recent hostilities.

In 2012 the city vote was 1,063 in favour with 511 against (68 per cent of the 45 per cent turnout). In 2007 there was a 27 per cent turnout with more than 70 per cent in favour.

“Five hundred and eleven voted no [to the Bid] the last time. That’s the space we are in. There will be a cohort of businesses that will always vote No,” says Guiney. “[But] for every one person you put in front of me that says they won’t support the Bid, I will give you two to three that will.”

He is confident the ballot in 2017 will supply a fillip. Pointing to the UK experience, he says the Yes vote begins to increase in the second and third plebiscites. Turnout rises to about 50 per cent while the proportion of Yes votes increases. “And I suspect we are going to follow suit.”