Council decision was to increase property tax in Offaly

A LOCAL councillor has stressed that the council made a decision to increase the Local Property Tax at their October monthly meeting.

In a letter to the Editor of the Tribune, Cllr Sean O'Brien writes:

“Dear Editor,

I feel that the report in the Tullamore Tribune last week on the Local Property Tax did not  accurately reflect either the debate or the decision.  I would like to raise the following points relating to the debate and the decision taken by the Council.

1).  The Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil Coalition decided in 2019 to increase the Local Property Tax in Offaly by 15%.  In order to maintain this new level of increased Local Property Tax it is necessary to vote on the matter every year.  Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil conveniently say every year, including this year, that they are only maintaining the tax at its level of the previous year; the reality is that it is being increased by 15 %.  Thus your headline indicating that the Council did not vote to reduce the tax is not an accurate summary of the decision.

2).  The decision to maintain the new level at an increase of 15% was proposed by Cllr John Clendennen and he dared  any Councillor to oppose the measure.  Cllr Tony McCormack seconded the motion and instructed the media not to go with lazy headlines which read "Council increases  Local Property Tax".   Who do these people think they are and what is their sense of democracy?

3).  Fianna Fáil opposed the increase in Local Property Tax from 2014-2019 and during the last local elections in 2019 they stated on their election literature that they would not increase the tax.   But as soon as the election was over they rushed into the Council Chamber to raise the tax by 15%

4).  The Government this year changed the rules and allowed the decision of the Council to continue with the 15% increase to cover the next two years.   This is to avoid the requirement to vote on this increase again next year so that they will not be embarrassed going into the local elections in 2023.

5).  In the current circumstances this tax and the increase will  be a huge burden on families and individuals.  Families and small businesses are scared going into this winter and beyond as they do not know what their energy bills are going to be like. Successive Governments have failed to properly finance local government and instead they are pushing Councils to add further taxes on the people at local level.   I am proud to say that I have opposed this tax increase every year and I have made the public aware of the clever goings on.

Thanking you for the opportunity to highlight these points.

Yours, etc.,

Cllr Sean O'Brien,

83 Whitehall,

Tullamore.”