This article is from page 4 of the 2014-07-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
CLARE home owners may not now receive the expected cut in their annual Local Property Tax (LPT), despite the Government allowing local authorities to reduce rates by up to 15 per cent.
From 2015 onwards, local authorities will be allowed to keep 80 per cent of the funds raised through the LPT. Clare County Council will also be granted the power to reduce the rate of property tax paid by residents by up to 15 per cent from the same date and it had been expected that councillors would be in positing to sanction such a cut.
However, it now look likely that Clare, along with 10 other local authorities, may see cuts to its Local Government Fund (LGF), which will makes introducing cuts to the property tax impossible. The LGF is paid to local authorities from central government and a cut in this stream of funding may impact on the council’s ability to reduce the rate of the LPT.
Cllr Tom McNamara (FF) said the proposed cut was unfair on Clare homeowners, especially considering that the county has one of the highest rates of LPT payments in the country.
“I am not happy about this situation at all. We should have the scope to reduce rate of Local Property Tax as was promised. The Local Government Fund must stay at the same level as it was in 2012,” he said.
“When the property tax was brought in we were told that we have the leeway to reduce it if we had the funds available. This proposed cut to the Local Government Fund must not take place. It is just camouflage to take away our ability to cut the property tax.
“We have been penalised time and again. They [Department of the Environment] took € 247,000 off us when our collection rate was below 80 per cent but we were supposed to get that back. We never got that back, even when the payment rate was was above 80 per cent.”
Cllr McNamara called on Clare’s three Government TDs to seek clarification on the proposed cuts to the Local Government Fund. The proposed cuts to the Local Government Fund are understood to be one of the items up for discussion between Labour and Fine Gael follow Joan Burton’s election at Labour party leader last week.