Councillors resist the call for a hike in the property tax
THE elected members of Wicklow County Council voted to retain the Local Property Tax (LPT) at its standard rate and resisted calls from Chief Executive Frank Curran for a 10 per cent rise.
Councillors had the power to either decrease or increase the LPT by up to 15 per cent.
Prior to the vote, Councillors were advised that a reduction to the LPT would significantly impact on services provided by the local authority. A reduction of 15 per cent would have resulted in a loss of €2.38 million to Wicklow County Council.
Challenges faced by the council for the upcoming budget include the National Pay Agreement, increased pension costs, reduced income and providing matching funding requests for urban and rural regeneration schemes, they heard.
Most Councillors voiced dissatisfaction that 20 per cent of the money collected in Wicklow goes toward an equalisation fund set aside for other counties considered to have lower property tax bases.
Cllr Joe Behan was the first elected member to speak and he proposed reducing the LPT by 15 per cent after outlining the reasons why he wouldn’t support any calls to raise the rate.
‘ The introduction of the property tax has effectively been a con job on the people of this country. People were told their money would go into additional services, yet as the Chief Executive fairly pointed out, the property tax has replaced local Government funding. It could actually be argued that, with the abolition of the town councils and the loss of staff, we are worse off now as a county council in providing services for the people,’ said Cllr Behan.
‘People are paying the property tax and aren’t seeing the resultant improvement of services. To expect people to pay an additional 10 per cent is just not acceptable’.
Cllr Gerry Walsh said this was his fifth time voting on the property tax and described the whole process as ‘farcical’.
‘As elected members, we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t. If we raise the property tax we impact on householders. If we reduce it we impact on services. It’s not possible to propose a 10 per cent raise on already hard-hit tax payers who are also facing increased oil and transport costs, insurance costs and the potential impact a hard Brexit could have,’ he said.
Cllr Nicola Lawless seconded Cllr Behan’s proposal to reduce the property tax by 15 per cent, saying there was a lot of opposition on the ground to the tax.
‘You speak to any member of the public and mention that you are voting on the property tax today and they will roll their eyes, describe it as an unfair tax and ask why they have to pay it. The cost of living is rising year on year and this is just another burden on people. It was only meant to be a temporary stopgap measure as well’.
Cllr Grainne McLoughlin understood the need for a property tax but was against an increase and also had issues over the manner in which the process operated.
‘How does the property tax affect the different areas? In north Wicklow we would be the ones paying the bulk of any increase yet we have roads that need so much attention. I agree with the property tax and with water charges but there has to be a fair balance. We need a longer discussion. What does the council intend to do with these areas so we can go back to the people? We need to be able to say what people could get rather than councillors just being provided with some random list’.
Cllr Mary Kavanagh was critical of funds from the property tax being used to cover pay restoration for council staff and pensions.
‘ That has nothing to do with the property tax and is an absolute sham and a scam,’ said Cllr Kavanagh.
Cllr Christopher Fox said that it was an ‘unfair tax’ which ‘discriminates’ against counties where house prices are high, such as Wicklow. He also felt the equalisation fund, which sees Wicklow provide other counties with €3.7 million, as unjust. He felt retaining the property tax at its current level was the best option.
‘It has been mentioned that the council are short staff and there certainly aren’t enough outdoor staff and engineering staff but the best way of sorting that out won’t be by reducing our budget by €2.5 million’.
Cllr Fox proposed retaining the rate at its current level and raised concerns over the planned revaluation of the property tax in 2019.
‘How many houses will jump up a band? This is something we must correspond with the Government over. House prices since 2013 have increased dramatically, especially in a county like Wicklow where house prices are high anyway,’ said Cllr Fox.
Cllr Dermot O’Brien said: ‘ There is a mismatch between what constituents on the ground are saying and what the proposal sitting here in the chamber is. I will be voting to reduce the property tax because that is what my constituents want. I regard the money we get from people who have houses in this county as a gift and now we are being asked to ask them for more’.
Cllr Jennifer Whitmore compared the staff numbers in Mayo County Council and the funding they receive to Wicklow and questioned why the Connaught county was a benefactor of monies collected in Wicklow.
‘ There are major flaws in the system and Wicklow has been majorly disadvantaged,’ said Cllr Whitmore. ‘Mayo has 922 staff compared to only 611 in Wicklow. They also have more gross expenditure than Wicklow and get more grants and subsidies. The transport fund in Mayo was €80 million in 2016. It was only €8 million in Wicklow. At the moment 20 per cent of the funding we raise goes outside the county. Mayo voted against raising the property tax and I refuse to subsidise a council which refuses to put that burden on the people of that county’.
Cllr Steven Matthews described any notion of reducing the LPT as ‘irresponsible’ and said a number of national bodies had advised against any measures which would result in reduced services.
‘It may be very popular to reduce the rate and it could make you the most popular person in the county, but it is also pretty irresponsible and would result in a reduction of services. If those services are reduced, then, within a couple of months, people will be jumping up and down about the drop in services’.
Cllr Pat Fitzgerald said: ‘What I find galling is the equalization fund to help counties with a lot more funding than we get. Wicklow is underfunded. I won’t be supporting a reduction, especially with a €8.7 million shortfall in the budget’.
Ten councillors voted for Cllr Behan’s proposal to reduce the LPT by 15 per cent, 20 voted against and two members weren’t present.
Twenty-two voted in favour of retaining the LPT at its basic rate, with five voting against, three abstaining and two not present.