No cut in property tax for meath homeowners

Meath householders will have to pay the full rate of Local Property Tax (LPT) again next year after county councillors narrowly voted not to implement any reduction in the rate at a special meeting of the council this week.
Councillors voted by 18 votes to 16 to implement the full LPT. Fine Gael and six of the eight independent councillors voted for retention of the full amount of property tax collected.
Sinn Fein’s eight councillors, who argued for a maximum 15 per cent cut in the LPT, strongly criticised Fianna Fail which had three of its councillors absent and one who was in the chamber but was not present for the vote.
SF said a cut could have been pushed through by 20 votes to 18 if FF had fielded a full team.
The council’s executive, led by chief executive Jackie Maguire and head of finance Fiona Lawless, argued strongly for the implementation of the full LPT, saying Meath County Council was “one of the worst-financed councils in the country despite its size and population” and needed the money to provide basic services.
If the full 15 per cent variation in LPT had gone through, the council would have €2,557,552 less income, they said.