County councillors to decide property tax level in September

The level of local property tax payable by households in Westmeath will be decided by councillors in September.

Clarity on when the issue would be decided was given to members of the council by acting director of finance, Michael Hand, at their quarterly finance meeting.

Mr Hand told the meeting that the first step of the process for Budget 2025 had commenced on July 8, with the publication of notice that elected members of a local authority could pass a formal resolution to vary the basic rate of the Local Property Tax for their administrative area by a percentage known as the local adjustment factor.

“Westmeath County Council will meet during September 2024 to consider the setting of a local adjustment factor,” he said. Setting out a detailed update of the council's current state of finances, Mr Hand told members that for the first six months of this year, the council's expenditure came to €55,029,502 while its income came to €55,039,790, meaning a surplus of €10,288 to date.

Going through some of the main points in his budget report to councillors, Mr Hand revealed that planning fees income is running well behind budget this year. The income to date has amounted to just €166,720 which is 35% of the anticipated figure. By contrast, the planning fees collected in the first six months of 2022 amounted to €341,053 while the 2023 figure was €227,760.

Responding later to queries from councillors on the fall in planning fees received, the chief executive Barry Kehoe said part of the reason had to do with the type of planning applications being submitted.

“We're not getting enough commercial type development applications in. Most of the applications we're dealing with are for housing,” he said.

Recreation

Under the heading of leisure and recreational income, Mr Hand was able to reveal that activities in this area have largely returned to pre-pandemic levels. In the first half of 2019, the income generated by Mullingar Swimming Pool amounted to €288,282 while for the first half of this year, it has come to €333,888.

Athlone Castle Gallery and Artists Studios has also seen a significant up-tick in income from 2019. Its income for the first six months of that year came to €67,644, while its income for the first six months of this year amounted to €137,234.

The income at Belvedere House and Gardens and at Athlone Marina are both, however, down. For the first six months of this year, Belvedere House and Gardens took in €186,459 compared to €214,685 in 2019, and even last year it received €258,620 for the first six months of the year.

Belvedere House has been allocated considerable funding to date this year, Mr Hand revealed. It is to receive a total of £200,000 for conservation works over this year and next, for structural support to the first floor, repointing of the façade and window repairs.

It is also to receive €187,500 for a visitor experience masterplan development.

Athlone Castle is to benefit from expenditure of €3,226,770, to provide interpretation facilities and visitor journey enhancements.

In addition, some €561,803 has been allocated for the detailed design and planning of a boardwalk and outdoor urban swimming pool in Athlone town centre.

Rates

Mr Hand said that due to a successful appeal by Iarnród Éireann to the Valuations Tribunal, which has led to a revision downwards of its rateable valuation, the council will have to credit the rail company with approximately €66,000 in 2024.

On a more positive note, however, he said that the council has received draft global certificates in relation to both the ESB and Uisce Éireann. “The apportionments are not available at the draft stage, therefore I'm not in a position to advise you of the financial impact,” he told the members. However, he continued, there was an increase in both, which was, he said, very positive.

Mr Hand said that on the expenditure side, while it is generally in line with budget, control of expenditure continues to present challenges and requires constant monitoring.

Surprised

Cllr Ken Glynn was surprised to see the fall in income at Belvedere.

He also noted that the council's take in rents this year is up €600,000 on last year and wondered how that came to be. Similar queries were lodged by Cllrs Paul Hogan and Vinny McCormack.

Cllr McCormack also welcome the fact that Mr Hand’s figures showed that through Croí Conaithe, the vacant property refurbishment grant, just under 70 properties previously lying idle will have been refurbished by the end of this year.

Cllr Mick Dollard said the avenues open to local authorities to raise revenue themselves were limited, but he felt the council was not taking advantage of even those limited opportunities open to it, by, for example, imposing litter fines and fines under the Dog Control Act. Cllr Denis Leonard agreed with that and also felt more funds should be spent on enforcement.

Cllr John Dolan raised a query on the level of interest in the Increased Cost Of Business (ICOB) grant. He said it appeared there were many businesses eligible to apply but did not actually do so.

Responded

Responding, Mr Hand said the Life Festival had been worth €65,000 to Belvedere last year, but it had not received that this year.

On the subject of the increased rent take, he said some of that was down to the increase in units leased out by the council to tenants, and some of it was down to the hike in rents as a result of the rent review. To Cllr Dolan, he confirmed that the council staff had been surprised at the number of businesses that had not availed of the ICOB scheme.

Cllr Niall Gaffney raised a query on the Croí Cónaithe scheme and was told that 16 of those approved for the grant have received a maximum amount. Cllr David Jones asked if the council could boost its income by increased vigilance on the issue of derelict sites but was told that that would not generate a significant sum and that the council would prefer to see the derelict sites refurbished and put back into use.