Property tax deadline approaches for local councils

Local authorities have less than a week to decide whether to change the rate of Local Property Tax (LPT) charged to homeowners next year.

As it stands, just over half of the State’s 31 local authorities have determined the rate for 2016.

Of the 17 city and county councils who have voted to date, only Mayo County Council has decided to increase the charge, with homeowners in the county due to pay a 3 per cent higher tax rate next year.

The tax is collected by the Revenue Commissioners, but councillors in each local authority have the power to decide to increase or decrease the rate charged in their area by up to 15 per cent each year.

Their decision holds for one year only, and if no notice of change is given to the Revenue Commissioners by September 30th homeowners will be levied at the standard rate.

A total of 14 local authorities last year decided to cut the property tax.

Six of these, including the four Dublin authorities - Dublin City Council, Fingal, South Dublin, and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, as well as Clare and Wicklow County Council, decided to give the maximum 15 per cent cut.

Cork City and Cork County Council chose to cut the tax by 10 per cent, Kildare County Council went for a 7.5 per cent cut, while Limerick, Longford, Westmeath and Mayo County Councils all cut the tax by 3 per cent.

Louth County Council went for a 1.5 per cent cut.

Continued reductions

Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly said earlier this month that local authorities who gave reductions for 2015 could do so again for 2016, at the same rate, without losing any central Government funding.

Mayo is the only local authority so far to decide not to reapply their 2015 cut in order the increase their funds next year.

Dubliners will not see their bill increase next year, after councillors in each of the four Dublin local authorities voted overwhelmingly to reapply the maximum discount of 15 per cent to the rate charged.

Of the other local authorities who applied a cut in 2015, Limerick, Clare, Wicklow and Cork City and County have yet to make their decisions.

Cork city councillor John Buttimer (Fine Gael) said it was likely the 10 per cent cut would go through.

“If we don’t reduce the charge it would represent half a million of potential funding we could have for discretionary spending, but I think the consensus will be for a 10 per cent cut.”

Clare County Council chair James Breen (Independent) said that, while he didn't want to pre-empt the democratic process, he felt councillors were likely to go for the 15 per cent cut.

However, he said that Clare was not getting the funding it was due from the tax fund.

“Alan Kelly is not giving us our fair share of the equalisation fund.”

Each council retains 80 per cent of the tax, with the remaining 20 per cent going into an equalisation fund to be re-distributed to local authorities with a lower tax base.