Councillors vote down any property tax hike

COUNCILLORS voted down a call by CEO Joan Martin (right) for a 15% increase in the Local Property Tax (LPT)

The Chief Executive told councillors that the local authority ‘absolutely needed €1.5 million’ to maintain the level of services being provided.

She added that the local authority had been facing ‘mounting pressure’ every year for almost a decade, with no additional funds coming from central government.

‘Despite the fact that we are now several years post recession, there has been no sign of that in the council’s budget.

The CEO said that she was seeking a 15% increase in the Local Property tax to garner revenue needed to maintain services.

She told members that around €1million alone was needed for the loans on lands the councils owns, and to meet an increasing number of maintenance requests within the housing stock.

She outlined how the budget for housing maintenance had already run out for 2018.

‘It is a daily struggle as we have a finite amount of money. We cannot go on the way we are going.’

She outlined a number of councils across the country which had agreed to increases in LPT, ranging from 5% to 10%.

Without an increase, the Chief Executive said she would ‘still have to balance the budget one way or another,’ by means of making over €1million in cuts across a range of services.