Fingal council to hike property tax while South Dublin, Dún Laoghaire keep reduction

Members of Fingal County Council voted on Monday night to increase the local property tax rate while South Dublin County Council and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council voted to maintain the reductions.

Fingal council previously had a 10 per cent reduction in the tax but councillors this year voted for a 7.5 per cent reduction for the next two years in order to “protect services”.

Oliver Hunt, head of finance at Fingal council, said the change in tax rate would be “very, very marginal”, amounting to about 15 cent extra per week for the most common house type.

AnnMarie Farrelly, chief executive of the council, said the rate change would yield an additional €2.2 million and would “help make sure our standards are kept as high as they are now”.

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Members of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council voted in favour of a motion to maintain its 15 per cent reduction in the tax, with the motion being supported by Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, and People Before Profit.

Councillor Tom Kivlehan of the Green Party was against the motion, saying it would save the average house in the council area €80 in the year, but would put pressure on the council’s ability to deliver good services at a time of pay rises and other inflationary pressures.

Local property tax became effective in 2013 and is applied to the value of residential property on a self-assessment basis. Properties were revalued on November 1st last to take account of the rise in property prices in recent years.

Members of South Dublin County Council voted to maintain the maximum 15 per cent reduction in local property tax for 2023. The move will impact on the council’s discretionary fund by some €4.8 million for the year. A second proposal to bind the council to apply the reduction for two years was defeated.

Councillors were told the local property tax in the administrative area of south Dublin would amount to some €32 million in 2023, resulting in a discretionary fund of about €7.2 million which would be spent on services to the public including the upkeep of parks and libraries. The reduction of 15 per cent would cut the discretionary fund by about €4.8 million, council staff said.

Public consultation on the move earlier this year drew 15 submissions, the majority of which were in favour of reducing the property tax by the maximum allowable, 15 per cent.

Proposing the council apply the maximum reduction, Fianna Fáil councillor Shane Moynihan said members should be minded of “the many pressures that face households” given the current cost-of-living increases. As the reduction had been applied last year, he said the impact of not doing so again would be to increase the tax on households by 15 per cent. He said it was “incumbent” on the council to keep household costs as low as possible.

The proposal was seconded by Independent councillor Mick Duff. The vote was carried by 35 votes in favour, with no votes against and two abstentions. As the proposal, which would apply for next year, was passed, a separate proposal by Fine Gael councillor David McManus suggesting the reduction be adopted for the forthcoming two years was deemed to have been defeated.

While there were no votes against the reduction, a number of councillors suggested the council think carefully about the need to finance local services.

Councillor Liam Sinclair (An Rabharta Glas – Green Left) said the tax was “a tax on wealth. “Because if you own a house you are better off than those who don’t”.

However, Sinn Féin councillor Louise Dunn told the meeting that elderly people in the community were looking at their budgets and deciding whether to pay for “food, medicine or property tax”.

During the debate, South Dublin County Council chief executive Daniel McLoughlin urged members not to adopt the policy for two consecutive years. Mr McLoughlin said the pressure on the council in terms of increasing population, libraries and parks was escalating and the management yet had no figures for the 2024 budget.