Councillors vote down property tax hike
Property owners throughout County Cavan will not face any hike in their property tax bill for 2018 despite a recommendation from the Council executive to raise it by 15%. After a comprehensive debate on the issue at a special meeting yesterday (Thursday), Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin county councillors voted against Fine Gael members to retain the current rate as it pertains.
The Head of Finance with Cavan County Council Des Maguire had set out in great detail the case for adjusting the property tax upwards by 15 per cent for 2018.
Mr Maguire warned councillors that if they did not increase the tax for 2018, the council would be forced to reduce expenditure in order to reach a balanced budget.
He said the main budgetary areas to come under pressure will be discretionary expenditure – local and regional road maintenance, housing maintenance, library budget, waste management, the arts budget, community and enterprise, theatre, museum – all areas that require more funding.
“Any reduction will have a serious impact on service delivery throughout the local authority and also throughout the administrative districts,” cautioned Mr Maguire.
Impact of a 15% increase
The head of finance further pointed out that the impact of a 15% increase in the LPT rate would mean an annual increase of €13.50 per annum for more than half (51.8%) of all property owners in the county and an increase of €33.75 per annum for 38.2 per cent of property owners. It would however net an additional income of €663,675 for council coffers.
Mr Maguire set out that this additional income, together with an increase in the annual rate of valuation for 2018 of two per cent, would allow the council to have a balanced Budget for 2018 and maintain the current level of services.
The chief executive Tommy Ryan also contended that the property tax needed to be raised by 15 per cent. In the final analysis he pointed out that the recommended hike was required to “balance the books”. He warned that there will be much more difficult decisions to be made in the near future, if the tax is not increased.
The motion before the members courtesy of the six Fine Gael members, as clarified by Eoin Doyle, was recommending a 15% increase in the basic rate of the LPT, upon the condition that €150,000 of the additional money generated would be distributed to the three Municipal Districts.
This was proposed and seconded respectively by Fine Gael councillors Paddy O’Reilly and Winston Bennett, backed by all Government party members in the chamber. However, they were blocked by six FF councillors and two SF councillors in the room.
A counter motion proposed and seconded by Cllrs John Paul Feeley and Shane P. O’Reilly to the effect that the LPT rate be left as it is at present. This motion was carried by eight votes to six.
* For a full report from the meeting and the debate, see next week's Anglo-Celt