Listowel’s planning rates still €4k higher than Killarney’s
PEOPLE building houses in various parts of the county are being charged vastly different levies by Kerry County Council depending on where they opt to build.
The existing planning levy system sees someone living in the Listowel area paying almost €4,000 more than someone in Killarney who is building an identical home.
At Monday’s meeting of Kerry County Council Cllr Johnny Healy-Rae called on management to introduce a single levy rate as the existing system is “grossly unfair.”
The council says it is working to resolve the issue which is a legislative hangover from the abolition of the Town Council system in 2014.
Under that system four separate Development Contribution rates were set by the three town councils and Kerry County Council.
While differing commercial rates applied in the four old local authority areas are being unified into a single county wide rate no action has yet been taken on Development Contributions.
This means that for an identical 120 square metre house on serviced lands a person in Killarney will have to pay the council €4,200 while the bill in Listowel would be €8,005.
In Tralee the equivalent property would require a contribution of €5,729. Across the rest of the county the same home would cost €7,715.
This means, for example, that a person building a house just outside the old Killarney Town Council boundary would be hit with €3,500 more in levies than someone building the same house, yards away, inside the old boundary line.
Cllr Healy-Rae said some of the rates were “extraordinary” and he pressed management to fix the system.
“We have to strike a balance on this. It surely can’t be right that someone can be paying three times as much as someone down the road,” he said.
Council management said it is currently preparing a new county-wide Development Contribution Scheme that will end the disparity and introduce a single rate.
This draft scheme is due to be presented to councillors in February.