Cork City Council: potential 5% increase to Local Property Tax floated

A potential 5% increase to the Local Property Tax has been floated at Cork City Council's pre-budget meetings.

Currently, Corkonians living in the city pay the base rate of 0.18% if their house is worth less than €1m.

At the council meeting on Monday, councillors cited concerns over the lack of funding for footpaths, road maintenance, cycle lanes and public lighting.

A 5% increase to the Local Property tax would generate just over €1m of extra revenue.

Speaking to The Echo, Cllr Kieran McCarthy said that the potential increase would go towards the likes of footpath repairs and cycle lanes. "At the moment we have to choose between those, due to funding shortfalls."

"Issues I am hearing at the doors are estate resurfacing, road funding and small playground grants. A dedicated tree-planting programme is also something people want."

"However, until the budget is sorted, it looks like cycle lanes, path fixing and parks could be put on hold for the next two years," said Cllr McCarthy.

Cllr McCarthy added there's been an ongoing deficit since the 2014 Local Government Grant was scrapped. "The Local Property tax is not enough."

Cllr Des Cahill also raised the issue of the budget deficit at council.

Speaking to The Echo, the Fine Gael councillor explained that the budget is set with a 0% increase to the Local Property Tax rate, and a decision will be made in the coming weeks at what rate to set it at.

"Every 1% increase is worth about €200,000 in additional funding. If we raised it to 5%, each Local Electorate Area would get €200,000 each. This could go on housing, footpaths, playgrounds, smaller projects in these areas."