{"id":751,"date":"2019-05-10T10:39:32","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T09:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/outdated-and-unfair-council-funding-model-needs-urgent-overhaul\/"},"modified":"2023-11-16T15:21:51","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T15:21:51","slug":"outdated-and-unfair-council-funding-model-needs-urgent-overhaul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/outdated-and-unfair-council-funding-model-needs-urgent-overhaul\/","title":{"rendered":"Outdated and unfair Council funding model needs urgent overhaul"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Social Democrats today branded the country\u2019s local authority funding system as outdated and deeply unfair to people living in councils with rapidly growing populations.<\/p>\n

“Communities can rightly ask \u2018what am I getting for my Local Property Tax?\u2019 And the answer is not a whole lot, because the finances of many local authorities haven\u2019t improved at all since the tax was introduced.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Social Democrats today branded the country\u2019s local authority funding system as outdated and deeply unfair to people living in councils with rapidly growing populations.<\/p>\n

The party is calling for a complete overhaul of how Local Property Tax is distributed to ensure that all councils can properly meet the needs of their residents.<\/p>\n

The party today publishes its proposals, Fairer Funding for Local Authorities<\/em>,<\/strong> in Navan Co Meath, alongside the local election campaign for the party\u2019s candidates for Meath County Council.<\/p>\n

The Social Democrats are fielding a total of four candidates for Meath County Council: Amy McGrath (Navan); Ronan Moore (Trim); Robb Corr (Laytown-Bettystown); and Paul Nolan (Ashbourne).<\/p>\n

Speaking ahead of today\u2019s launch, the party\u2019s co-leader Catherine Murphy TD said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe current system of funding for our city and county councils is both unfair and out of date. What\u2019s more, it seriously disadvantages councils with growing populations that most need funding for services, including Meath, Kildare, South Dublin, Galway County, Wicklow and Fingal. It means some councils are struggling to provide basic local services such as playgrounds and recreation areas, youth centres, libraries and community halls.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunities can rightly ask \u2018what am I getting for my Local Property Tax?\u2019 And the answer is not a whole lot, because the finances of many local authorities haven\u2019t improved at all since the tax was introduced. Any gains were taken away by the government\u2019s sneaky withdrawal of other income sources like motor tax funding and grants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ronan Moore running in Trim said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation in County Meath illustrates just how unfair the current council funding system is. Meath County Council is losing millions in funding each year thanks to the out-of-date way that Local Property Tax is redistributed by central government. Meath Council is at the bottom of the league in terms of spending, and it also has the lowest level of staffing and Government grants per head of population out of all 31 local authorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amount of money needed to run each county or city council was worked out twenty years ago. Amazingly, the Department of Housing are still working off that same assessment today. Virtually no changes have been made to take account of significant population increases.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amy McGrath running in Navan added:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMeath residents are losing out under a funding system that has pathetically failed to keep up with the changing needs of the county and the 78% increase in population since 1996.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to the latest figures, \u20ac17.5 million was collected from Meath home-owners under the Local Property Tax in 2018. This goes into a central fund and is then allocated to local authorities. However, only \u20ac14m of the \u20ac17.5m collected in Meath was given back to Meath Co. Council. There are similar stories in Kildare, Fingal, Galway County, South Dublin County Council, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and Wicklow.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Government needs to go back to the drawing board and establish transparent funding procedures. These must be updated at every census and take into consideration a wide variety of needs and deficits with much more emphasis on population changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of our Fair Funding proposals, the Social Democrats want to see:<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n