Branches warn against property tax cut
by Bernard Harbor
 |
IMPACT’s Dublin City branch and Municipal Employees division contacted Dublin City councillors last week to warn that cuts in the authority’s local property tax could hit services. In the event, Dublin City councillors voted for the maximum 15% reduction. The three other Dublin local authorities did the same. IMPACT’s Dublin City branch chair Paul O’Halloran warned councillors that homelessness and other services could be under threat as - in addition to reduced property tax incomes - rate income was likely to fall by between €20-€26 million in 2015 and a €5 million reserve used last year to support homelessness services was now gone. “In summary, the city is facing a reduction in income coupled with increases in expenditure which, in IMPACT’s opinion, could have negative implications for the provision of services, for staff, and for Dublin City Council as a public body. Any variation in the local property tax should be phased so as to allow all the issues and implications to be known and managed,” he said. This year, all councils were given the option of cutting the local property tax by up to 15%. Last weekend IMPACT general secretary Shay Cody warned against a rush by councillors to cut their authorities’ incomes which, he said, would not happen in other European countries.
|
|
