Council rent surplus of €400,000 put into refurbishing houses

A surplus of €400,000 collected in rent last year will be put into refurbishing and upgrading council houses, head of finance Jimmy Dalton told members of Westmeath County Council last week.

Revenue from the sale of houses to sitting tenant is also used to maintain and enhance existing housing stock and supplements annual housing maintenance budgetary provisions. Six tenant purchase transactions were completed in 2022, yielding €414,665.

The council took in a surplus of €57,000 in planning fees, but pay parking, fire certificate income and commercial rates showed a deficit.

Since the beginning of 2018, the council have lost €479,000 a year as a result of commercial rates revaluation. Three of the 121 revaluation appeals remain outstanding and they carry an annual value of circa €23,000.

Rates bills for 2024 have issued and are payable in total, not in two moieties as was the case previously, but Mr Dalton said the council provide a direct debit scheme. There is also a rates grant for those who cannot pay.

Housing rents are being revised from February 24 and increases will be restricted to €20 a week or 25% of the current rent. Last year, the council collected 96% of rates and 97% of rents due.

Solar panels installed at the County Buildings in Mullingar at a cost of €68,000 will result in a €13,000 saving on energy costs per year. Similar panels are to be installed in the Athlone civic buildings “in due course”, Mr Dalton reported.

“There is no organisation of our size that doesn’t have problems but the (financial) report leaves us in good standing,” Mr Dalton stated.

Cllr Mick Dollard said that in the previous week alone, he had been approached by five or six older people in the Mullingar area who were worried about rent increases and he asked how the differential rent scheme applied to them. He also asked if there was a group of tenants who habitually fell into rent arrears.

Mr Dalton replied that the number of tenants in arrears is relatively small and there might be a dozen or so who have issues, but the majority of those in arrears are paying 75%, and some 90%, of what is due.

He agreed to provide Cllr Dollard with details of how the differential rent scheme is operated and how those on the state pension or in old persons’ dwellings are dealt with.

In reply to Cllr Paul Hogan, Mr Dalton said that between €1.4m and €1.6m is spent annually on housing repairs and refurbishment, adding “any money I can get my hands on will go to that”, including any central government funding.