Property tax D-day in Tipp
A challenging year ahead for Tipperary County Council in maintaining the level of services it provides throughout the county has prompted elected members to agree to varying the Local Property Tax next year and for 2024.
Speaking at Monday's council meeting in Nenagh after his proposal for a 10 per cent hike above the baseline tax threshold was supported by a majority of 27 votes to 10, the council's Chief Executive Joe MacGrath said spiralling energy costs and hikes in the rate of inflation will pose serious challenges for the council in the year ahead.
Mr MacGrath said the extra revenue generated as a result of the decision by councillors would help maintain vital services throughout the community, such as keeping public swimming pools and libraries open and providing funds to improve the quality of living in towns and villages.
Councillors were informed that not a single submission was made when the proposed variation in the tax was put out for public consultation through the local media.
The council's Finance Office Liam McCarthy revealed that due to changes introduced in the local property tax bands, the council's revenue from the levy had reduced in the current year.
Mr McCarthy said that even taking in the 10 per cent variation voted for by councillors, the vast majority of home owners will not see any increase in the tax they pay on their homes. In fact, 22 percent of homeowners would now pay less property tax over the coming two years. Mr McCarthy said the yield from the tax was vital to maintain council-owned amenities such as the leisure centres in Roscrea and Nenagh and the Nenagh Arts Centre.
LOCAL AREAS BENEFIT
The tax had enabled the council to provide additional funding of in excess of €600,000 to the five municipal districts within the county in the current year. Mr McCarthy said the Nenagh district, for example, had been allocated €142,746 from the levy. Among the projects that benefited were the new tourist office in Nenagh as well as providing seed funding for ambitious capital projects planned for the town.
Mr McCarthy said the revenue generated by the tax was vital as the council was facing “ongoing uncertainties over electricity, energy costs and inflation”.
Public services and voluntary community initiatives, such as the organisation of local festivals and the activities of Tidy Town groups, are set to benefit from a fund of almost €26m generated from the tax in 2023.
Of this sum, almost €10.4m will be generated from households in the county. A further some of just over €15.6m will come from tax raised from property owners in large urban based counties. Tipperary is the greatest beneficiary in the country of this latter source, known as the “Equalisation Fund”.
Council Cathaoirleach, Cllr Roger Kennedy said that because of the changes on the tax bands, Tipperary's annual revenue from the levy was down by €1.7m. While voting for the 10 per cent increase on the baseline tax threshold, Cllr Seamus Morris said local councils like that in Tipperary were one of the worst funded by central government when compared to most other EU countries. It was due to this lack of funding that the council had to vote on varying the property tax almost every year.
Cllr Siobhan Ambrose said the majority of house owners in Tipperary would pay the same property tax in 2023 and 2024 as they did in the current year, and a significant proportion would pay even less.
Cllr Michael Murphy said the funds now generated for local community projects in towns and villages as a result of the tax were unimaginable prior to its introduction in 2014.
Cllr Seamus Hanafin said that unlike France where they were closing down swimming pools to cope with rising energy costs, the property tax enabled the council to keep pools and leisure centres open.
Mr MacGrath, in thanking councillors for voting in favour of his proposal, said every euro collected from the levy will go back into benefiting local communities throughout Tipperary.