County council compromise on property tax hike

A 5% local property tax (LPT) hike has been approved by Cork County Council for the next four years.

During Monday’s Cork County Council meeting, councillors voted 41 to nine in favour of the increase on the strict basis that the additional money gained from the increase would be channelled directly into the county’s eight municipal districts (MDs).

The 5% hike will bring in and additional €1.9 million per year from 2026 to 2029 which will be used by each MD as it sees fit.

Before the vote, Cork County Council Chief Executive Moira Murrell had initially pledged 50% of the 5% income increase to MDs.

However, the motion was successfully amended by councillors so that 100% of the income would go back into the MD it was raised in.

Fianna Fáil Cllr Patrick Gerard Murphy said: “I think we have to come back to the basics of it being a local property tax, and that's the way people perceived it originally. That's the way it was sold.

“We've had a party discussion on it here and we feel, that for us to increase it by 5%, we would need the lion's share of that,” he added.

Fine Gael Cllr Michael Hegarty said: “In this side of the house, we are okay with the 5% provided that 100% of the extra money created remains in the MD. That is a red line flag for us.”

The 5% LPT increase means, from 2026, homeowners in county Cork with properties worth between €315,001 and €420,000 will have to pay €382.95 annually, marking an increase of €16.65.

Homeowners with properties worth less than €240,000 will pay €109.25 a year, an increase of €4.75; while owners of properties worth between €240,001 and €315,000 will pay €270.25 a year, an increase of €11.75.

Addressing elected members, Cork County Council Director of Finance, Lorraine Lynch, said due to inflation, to simply maintain the council’s existing services as they are will cost an estimated additional €5.6 million in 2026.

However, numerous councillors argued that any additional money needed by the county should not come from its hard-working citizens, but rather central government.

Independent Ireland Cllr Danny Collins suggested there should be no increase on this year’s rate and there should be no further pressure put on families.

He explained: “We had an increase last October of 2.5%. Now, less than a year later, we're going back looking for a further increase of 5%.

“We should be going back to our government if we need additional funding,” added the Bantry/West Cork councillor.

Social Democrats Cllr Ann Bambury, though in support of the 5% increase, also took the opportunity to callout the “continued under funding of our local authorities by this and successive governments”.

Cllr Bambury explained: “It is deeply frustrating that we as local representatives have to take difficult decisions because of systematic failure by Central Government to adequately fund our local authorities, particularly in an inflationary environment where the cost of delivering services is rising year on year.”