No change on Local Property Tax after Cllrs vote against reduction

PAUL MURPHY
Householders in Meath will be paying the full rate of local property tax for the next year after councillors voted against a reduction at a meeting on Monday.
A combination of Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and independents decided against any reduction up to 15% reduction/increase was allowable). The LPT has remained unchanged in this county for the last three years. Independent member Cllr Joe Bonner and eight Sinn Fein members sought a reduction.

Sinn Fein and the independents were the only groupings to field full teams for the meeting - there were six absentees. A vote not to vary the LPT was carried by 25 to nine.
 Earlier, council Finance Officer Fiona Lawless told councillors that any reduction in the household tax would be "catastrophic" for council finances, leaving it short of money to provide services within the county.

She also said that there were increases to cover staff payroll and pensions coming up in 2018 and that finance was also needed to cover these issues. She said that of the 57,000 properties liable for LPT in Meath, 75 per cent were in the first three bands.

Varying the base rate by 1% would result in a change of 90 cents for the lowest valuation band and €17.55 fior the highest band. Varying the base rate by 15% would result in a change of €13.50 for the lowest valuation band and €263.75 for the highest band. Ms Lawless said that even a reduction of 1% in LPT would mean a loss of revenue to the council of €174,000.
When the council sought the opinion of the public on LPT, just 911 submissions were made, with 748 seeking a reduction, five seeking an increase, and 158 asking for no variation in the tax, or not specifying any increase or decrease.