Councillors vote to keep Local Property Tax at existing rate

WICKLOW homeowners won’t be facing a reduction in their Local Property Tax after councillors voted to retain it at its basic level at a Wicklow County Council meeting on Monday.

A proposal from Cllr Oliver O’Brien and Sinn Fein to reduce the Local Property Tax (LPT) by 15 per cent was defeated by 20 votes against, nine in favour, two not present and one abstaining vote.

According to figures released by Wicklow County Council, the vote to maintain the LPT at its base rate last year resulted in an increase of €3,412,000 for services, including €580,000 for discretionary funding for the Municipal Districts, €300,000 for library services, €195,000 for playgrounds, €150,000 for homeless funding and €250,000 for community grants.

Council officials also stated that a 15 per cent reduction would result in a loss of €2.5 million.

In 2014, the members voted for a 15 per cent reduction but last year agreed to retain the LPT at its base rate.

Cllr O’Brien was adamant that the LPT should be reduced by the full 15 per cent open to the members.

‘It should be reduced, especially when you see the amount of tax being taken away from the people of Wicklow. Twenty per cent of the money collected in Wicklow will go toward Central Government Funds, which isn’t fair either,’ he said.

As part of his proposal, he also wanted Wicklow County Council to write a letter to the Department of Environment demanding back the 20 per cent LPT collected in Wicklow which goes into a national equalization fund used to subsidies other local authorities.

Cllr John Ryan said that because the elected members didn’t reduce the property tax for 2016, the Local Authority was able to implement new budgets, maintain existing ones and increase other budgets in a number of different areas.

‘I don’t think the council has actually done a good job of talking about the impact our decision last year to maintain the LPT had on people across the county, given that it allowed for additional funding for the likes of homelessness,’ he said.

Cllr Chris Fox also had issues with the equalization fund.

‘The people of Ireland are taxed on absolutely everything. To ask the people of Wicklow to pay more is very unfair. The Government has some cheek to come back to the people of Wicklow and take more money out of their pockets when they are well aware Wicklow is short of income,’ said Cllr Fox.

‘We are taxed to the hilt and we are getting nothing in return. It’s just take, take, take. The economy won’t be able to grow because people don’t have any money to spend.’

While Cllr Sylvester Bourke acknowledged he didn’t ‘ like the LPT anymore than anyone else’ he questioned how Sinn Fein would provide services if the LPT rate was cut by 15 per cent.

‘If €2.5 million is taken out of the budget then the Local Authority will have to make cuts to services,’ said Cllr Bourke.

Cllr Pat Vance argued that ‘ no one wants taxes but everyone wants services. During the last General Election it was clear that people regarded the improvement to services as the most important issue of the day.’

Cllr Tom Fortune was of the opinion that ‘ the LPT is totally unsustainable. People just can’t afford it. They are already being charged tax after tax.’

While Cllr Derek Mitchell said he would be voting in favour of maintaining the LPT, he warned that he wouldn’t do so next year unless funding in Greystones is increased to match elsewhere in the county. He again added that Wicklow County Council should be seeking to get back some sort of financial reward from Dublin for supplying much of their water.

Cllr Tommy Cullen informed the meeting that the only vote he was looking to achieve was for the complete abolishment of the LPT.

‘I want abolishment and not a reduction. To my mind if you say you support a 15 per cent reduction, you are still voting for the principal of 85 per cent in property tax.’

Cllr Shay Cullen was of the opinion that ‘nobody likes the LPT but unfortunately we are in a scenario where we need this money for our services. You can’t take €2.5 million out of our budget for 2017 and not expect it to have a serious impact on the services we provide for the county.’

Cllr John Snell pointed out that even if the council voted to maintain the LPT level, they would still be facing a shortfall of €6.35 million as the Local Authority expect its expenditure in 2017 to reach €98,230,250 for 2017, compared to a total expenditure of €91,378,113 for 2016.

Councillors voted to keep the LPT at its current rate with 20 in favour, nine against, two not present and one abstaining.