Council must ‘look elsewhere’ for €19 million

Ireland’s central Government must step in and offer financial support to local authorities facing massive losses due to Covid-19.

That was the opinion a number of councillors attending a meeting in County Hall on Monday where a motion was passed to increase the Local Property Tax (LPT) in county Cork by 2.5 per cent this year. Cork County Council could face a deficit of €19m this year.

This is on top of last year’s increase of 5 per cent, bringing the total increase to 7.5 per cent.

One such councillor was Sinn Féin’s Danielle Twomey who said that the LPT doesn’t take into account the householder’s ability to pay, and that the County Council needs to “look elsewhere” for funding.

Cllr Twomey said Sinn Féin feels that the LPT should be abolished and that the funding should come from the exchequer.

“That's our position, but it's probably not going to happen unless we are in government,” said Cllr Twomey.

At Monday’s meeting, Cllr Twomey advocated for a zero per cent increase on LPT and said that she couldn't support any extra costs being put upon homeowners who are “already struggling”.

However, she said she would not object to the 5 per cent increase in line with last year.

Speaking on behalf of the Independent councillors, Cllr Declan Hurley said that there should be no increase on last year’s rate of 5 per cent and that the central Government needs to “step up”.

Cllr Hurley said: “No matter what way you dress it up, an increase is an increase. Given the year we have had, there’s a lot of domestic debt out there and we do not want to add to that.”

However, Fine Gael party leader for county Cork, Cllr John Paul O’Shea, believes that an increase of 2.5 per cent would allow sufficient funds to be raised to maintain vital county services.

“The 2.5 per cent increase, plus the 5 per cent, will come to about €3.5m. We want that ring-fenced for things like community grants, community funding and town development funds,” Cllr O’Shea told the Cork Independent.

“There’s a €19m shortage being projected for the end of the year, but we're not even in October. There's a lot of water to go under the bridge yet,” he added.

At the meeting Cllr O’Shea also raised concerns surrounding the Equalisation Fund which sees 20 per cent of monies raised in county Cork through LPT being divided amongst other local authorities around the country.

Cllr O’Shea said: “It's in the Programme for Government that the equalisation fund will stay in place, but that it won't be taken from local authorities anymore. It will be taken from the national exchequer instead.

“We are hoping that the Government will take this on board and announce it at the start of the national budget in two weeks' time, and the €6.3m that we’re supposed to give back to Government next year, stays in the county,” continued Cllr O’Shea.

It was also confirmed at the meeting by Cork Council Chief Executive, Tim Lucey, who originally sought an increase of 15 per cent to the LPT, that the council is facing a “complete wipe-out” of its general reserve for the coming year.

“We are in a situation where we have to make a decision. It’s not ideal. In a nutshell we’re facing uncertainty into 2021 and beyond.

“We’re looking at a gap of approximately €19m but it could be €17m or it could be €21m,” Mr Lucey told the meeting on Monday.