Local Property Tax remains unchanged for 2021

Meath County Council members have voted not to increase the Local Property Tax (LPT) for Meath householders for 2021, despite council revenues estimated to drop by a forecasted €4.5 million as a result of Covid-19.

At Monday’s meeting, the council executive made a presentation asking for the councillors to approve a 15 per cent increase in the Local Property Tax.

Head of Finance Fiona Lawless said that this will be the seventh year that Meath County Council will receive income from property tax, with €17.5 million collected each year. After 20 per cent goes to the central Equalisation Fund, €14 million is allowed to be retained by the county council.

Property tax hasn’t increased over the last number of years, as new properties are not taxed, she added.

Parking, rents, levy amenities, and other expenditure will be in decline for 2020, but there will be an IPB dividend of €1.5 million. There will be increased payroll expenditure, on Covid-related costs, which has seen €1 million spent already, as well as increased energy costs, and remote working upgrades for staff.

Collection of rates at 93 per cent is the second highest in the country, taking in over €40,000 but Ms Lawless says that there is no way of knowing what that will be like at the end of this year, or 2021.

There were over 1,400 direct debits paying rates, now down to less than 100, and a bad debts provision of €1 million may be needed.

Ms Lawless gave a breakdown of the property bands bringing in the income in Meath, which showed that almost 70 per cent were in the less than €200,000 category. A 15 per cent variation would mean €13.50 being added on to an annual bill in band one, up to €74.15 in band five of over €250,000.

Of a total of 65,500 properties returning for Meath, 95 per cent are in bands one to five. An adjustment of plus 15 per cent would see an additional €2.6 million in revenue, reducing the deficit to €-1.9million.

Council chief executive Jackie Maguire said that since the introduction of LPT Meath has not varied it, but had not decreased it either, which allowed expenditure on various projects, economic development, housing, footpaths, and met loan charges, moving from a very negative deficit over the past seven years, to well below €1 million, from €10 million. The €4.5 million will have to be clawed back to provide a balanced budget.

Cllr Damien O’Reilly, on behalf of the Fianna Fáil group, proposed that the rate not be varied, given the unknown circumstances being faced by households and the council.

Cllr Gerry O’Connor, on behalf of Fine Gael, also proposed no variation, as did Cllr Brian Fitzgerald on behalf of the technical group, acknowledging that everyone was speaking in a vacuum, not knowing what the overall budget would be like this year.

“It would go down like a lead balloon,” he said. “It is not the time for either increasing or decreasing.”

Cllr Sean Drew said that it is critical that the government review on LPT is carried out as any houses built since 2013 is not paying property tax, which is greatly affecting the revenue of the county.

“For anyone going into a new property, a year or two years is enough to be exempt, but not seven years.”

Cllr Alan Lawes proposed a reduction of 15 per cent in the LPT for all those who were reliving in new build apartment and houses in the area. Sinn Fein did not speak on the tax, but voted not to adjust it.

Cllr Gerry O’Connor, supported by Cllr Ronan Moore, called for the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, to act on the baseline review of local authority funding models, and include the findings as part of his Department’s submission to the 2021 budget discussion.

The council also supported Cllr O’Connor’s motion to immediately fund the LPT Equalisation Fund from the Central Exchequer and leave the two per cent that is currently withheld from local authorities in the areas where the LPT is generated.

In a vote on the motion to vary the LPT, 35 councillors voted against, with Cllr Alan Lawes voting to adjust it. Cllrs Deirdre Geraghty-Smith, Wayne Harding, Stephen McKee and Tommy Reilly were absent for the vote.