Mayo councillors asked to consider 15 percent increase in rate of Local Property Tax

MAYO County Council have recommended that councillors increase the rate of the Local Property Tax by 15 percent in order to pay for services such as hedgecutting.

Councillors will be asked at Monday's monthly meeting of Mayo County Council to vary the base rate of the Local Property Tax by 15 percent in order to generate further income for the local authority.

The Local Property Tax (LPT) is an annual self-assessed tax charged on the market value of all residential properties with the revenue raised used to fund the provision of services by local authorities.

The base rate of the LPT has not increased since 2020 and Head of Finance, Peter Duggan outlined that an increase will 'assist greatly' in delivering services to the county.

Mr Duggan explained that a 15 percent increase in the Property Tax will result in an increase of €1.41 million in the Council's Budget for 2025.

“Demand for current services is growing and there are significant needs requiring ongoing attention. There is an onus on us to maximise the opportunities available to us in the interests of maintaining our services and developing infrastructure within the county.

“It is essential that the funding derived from the local adjustment factor in recent years continues to be applied to both hedgecutting and match funding as heretofore but based on the latest information available from the Revenue Commissioners a move to 15 percent would generate further income of circa €470,000 in 2025,” he stated in a memo circulated to councillors ahead of Monday's meeting.

Mr Duggan added that the difference in respect of the impact on households between 2024 and 2025 would be €4.50 for 65 percent of households and €11.25 per annum for a further 21 percent.

“It would assist greatly in bringing forward a budget which will allow for much needed increases in service delivery including in areas such as meeting our climate change targets, burial ground provision, taking in charge of housing estates and beaches and tourist facilities,” he added.

It is estimated that based on the current base rate, Mayo will take in €9,393,210 in income from LPT raised in the county with the Council to receive an additional allocation of €11,920,145 in Exchequer Equalisation Funding.

A report from the Finance Department of Mayo County Council stated that the number of properties returned for LPT in 2024 amounted to 59,395 and without a change in the tax rate, the number of properties would need to increased by 127 percent 'before the benefit of any additional income would accrue to this Council’.

The recommendation by Mr Duggan to increase the LPT by 15 percent will be a test for the new Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael run Council who adopted differing positions regarding the LPT during the last term of the Council.

In recent years, Fine Gael had repeatedly called for a decrease in the rate of the LPT and proposed a 15 percent decrease in 2022 which was opposed by Fianna Fáil.

Before June's local elections, councillors warned that rural householders will start withholding payments of the LPT unless they see improvement to services in their area.