HOMEOWNERS in West Cork will have to pay an extra 5% in Local Property Tax (LPT) over the next four years after councillors voted in favour of the move.
The council is expected to bring in an extra €1.9m in revenue as a result next year – but one councillor who voted against the hike as a ‘hammer blow’ to families already hit by the cost of living crisis.
The increase means homeowners with properties valued between €525,001 and €630,000 – the most common band in Cork county – will now have to pay €601.45, an increase in LPT of €26.15 per annum, while properties between €315,001 and €420,000 will have to pay €382.95 annually, up €16.65 on last year’s figure.
Last year councillors voted to increase the LPT rate by 2.5%.
Council chief executive Moira Murrell put a proposal forward that the council would provide half of the increased revenue to the eight municipal districts.
Head of finance, Lorraine Lynch, said that like other businesses the local authority is seeing increased coats as a result of inflationary pressures and growing activity levels across all services including roads, municipal services, amenities and climate action.
Councillors were also told that a rate variation of anything less than 10% would mean a loss of income for Cork County Council for 2026.
Cllr Patrick Gerard Murphy (FF) said they could only vote for the increase if the €7.6m was to be used exclusively in the council’s eight municipal districts which would allow them to carry out projects which people could see happening on the ground.
‘People need to see the benefit of this property tax increase in works in their area. It’s a significant amount of money and we need to copper fasten that for four years because we need to plan over a long time on how the money will be spent,’ said Cllr Murphy.
His motion was supported by Cllr Michael Hegarty (FG).
However, Cllr Danny Collins (Ind Ire) raised a motion seeking to retain the LTP at the current 10% rate above the base line but a vote to increase it to the maximum of 15% was carried by 41 votes in favour and nine against.
Cllr Collins described the increase as a ‘hammer blow to working families and pensioners who are already squeezed from every angle.’
‘I bought this motion forward in good faith because we need to give people a break. Instead what we got was the established parties – and some so-called independents– lining up to hit people in the pocket once again,’ said Cllr Collins.
‘This was a clear chance to say: enough is enough.’
