Mayo County Council has voted to not vary the Local Property Tax (LPT ) rate in the county for the next two years at the September meeting of the local authority which took place this week.
A proposal from the Fine Gael side of the house to lower the LPT by 15 per cent was rejected when it was put to a vote at the meeting, with the Fianna Fáil and independent councillor bloc that control the majority in the council voting against the proposal.
Prior to a lengthy debate on the issue the elected members were informed by Peter Duggan, head of finance for the council that there were 59,300 properties in Mayo registered for the LPT, with just under two thirds (63.5 per cent ) of those in the lowest valuation band of under €200,000.
He also informed that the council will collect €8.6 million from the LPT in 2023, with another €11.1 million being paid to the council from the LPT equalisation fund and that when the the council requested public submissions this year ahead of the decision on the LPT they received no submissions from the public on it.
Fianna Fáil whip Cllr Damien Ryan proposed that the council do no vary the rate of the LPT inline with the recommendations from the council executive that was put before the members, outlining that the keeping the LPT as it is was going to retain services and funding that the council distributes in the county to community groups and he did not want to see a withdrawal of such funding and other services.
Kevin Kelly the chief executive of the council explained that a reduction of the LPT by 15 per cent would equal roughly the amount of funding that the council distributes to the councillors General Municipal Allocation, which funds a large number of community groups and events in the county each year.
However Cllr Flynn put forward the proposal to reduce the LPT by 15 per cent which he said would give a little back to people who face into a very uncertain winter. He was supported by his fellow Fine Gael councillors in the proposal - but when it came to a vote, his motion was defeated and the LPT will remain the same in Mayo for the next two years.
