Dún Laoghaire council to cut local property tax

Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council is to cut the local property tax bill by 15 per cent following a unanimous decision by councillors at a meeting on Monday.

It is a repeat of a decision last year by elected representatives in keeping with Section 20 of the Finance Act 2012, which allows for the charge to be increased or decreased at local level.

Councillors unanimously agreed there is an impetus on them to reduce their constituents’ liability even though they were cautioned any such move would have an impact on the forthcoming budget.

The reduction means a loss of €7.61 million to the local authority, which would have an effect on the ability to maintain public services unless other revenue streams were possible, they were told. In 2014, the cost of funding the local property tax reduction was just over €8 million.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Sinn Féin councillor Shane O’Brien, who put forward a motion to maintain the tax cut, said: “Anything other than decreasing it this year would be an increase for people in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown. We cannot be increasing taxes and charges for people now.”

Equalisation fund

The average property value in the area falls in the €350,000 to €400,000 band.

A full property tax charge for properties valued at €385,000 would amount to €675, falling to €573.75 with the 15 per cent reduction.

In 2015, 80 per cent of the property tax collected (€53.5 million) was retained locally with the remaining 20 per cent paid into an “equalisation fund”.

Representatives were presented with a detailed report on the realities of reducing the payment and were asked to take this into account before the vote.

They heard that while operating on a sound financial footing, the authority’s resources had fallen sharply since 2008. These concerns did little to sway the members.

Onus

Fine Gael’s John Bailey said: “The onus is on us to pass back to the people as much as we can.”

Independent councillor Victor Boyhan said he would agree with a local tax where 100 per cent of proceeds would be retained for local spending.

Councillors were presented with a copy of a report to be submitted by the planning department to An Bord Pleanála on the proposed development of a cruise ship berth in the town.

The report said the council is “fully supportive” of the National Ports Policy 2013 which considers the long-term future of the harbour to be linked to “opportunities with marine leisure and maritime tourism”.