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MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT, Community and Local Government Phil Hogan has said 2014 will see significant changes in the local government model and the way in which it is funded.
Starting this year, the Department of Finance will begin paying funds collected through the property tax into the Local Government Fund, which will then be allocated to local authorities to fund services. Before this, property tax money had been kept in the coffers, with Minister Michael Noonan saying it would be used to reduce the deficit.
“The local government funding model will change considerably in 2014,” Minister Hogan said in response to a parliamentary question.
In his question last month, Labour TD Kevin Humphreys asked for a comparison of 2013 general purpose grant allocations for local authorities but was told by the minister that this would be “inappropriate”.
Among the reasons involved is the fact that a large component of the cost base of each local authority, namely the operational cost of delivering water services, is transferring to Irish Water and therefore direct local authority funding needs are lower in 2014.
These grant allocations for this year have been made on a city and ‘county at large’ basis, whereas separate town council allocations were made in previous years.
Figures show that local authorities received some €71.25 million from an annual charge for residential properties which are not the owner’s only or main residence. 2013 was the final year of operation for that charge and Hogan assured Humphreys that the general purpose grant allocations, despite the lower funding needs of local authorities this year, would take this into account.
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I don’t believe a word out of Phil Hogans considerable mouth. It is a tax. Services will NOT improve. We were lied to regarding it’s allocation in 2014.
God love us all when Irish Water gets going.
He is a disgrace. An inept bully.
Kilkenny can be proud of this rogue.
Journal can you do a poll on the most hated politician in the dail .
there is something not right about that picture , if you look carefully you will just make out a poster saying “people first” just behind the fool, ???
Looking at Phil Hogan’s fat ugly head has put me right off my breakfast. The posterboy for gombeen politics.
Agree and it’s only 3rd jan
Wow tom. Of all the FF crooks that tried and failed to ruin the country, you somehow pick phil hogan as the father of gombeenism. Either you are incredibly ill informed or you are a FF or SF troll.
Dane/Kevin, jaysus the irony of you calling anyone a troll.
The old comparison line again Dane. FF and FG are the remnants of a war over but is still destroying the country. Neither are fit for purpose.
Each minister now just adds more taxes. Independent of each other. Not one looking at the big picture.
@gerbreen. Im just making the point that there are a lot more gombeen politicians in FF to pick from. Anyone who even glances at the state papers from 30 years ago can see the corruption and opportunism of haughy versus the integrity and patriotism of garret Fitzgerald.
Oh and happy new year to u norman.
The same Garett that AIB wrote loans off for? Wonder what that cost us all.
Same to you Dane/Kevin
U really think I’m the same person as kevin?
I’m sorry but I recall a quaint old fund raiser called income tax that was supposed to cover costs for such things as water. This is privatisation of a resource which we have in abundance – another tax – another double / stealth tax. Anyone who has taken note of how well water privatisation has served people across Europe should be very concerned. Minister Hogan is scamming everyone of us on behalf of his cronies in govt who represent big private business interest. The Irish people are like lambs to the slaughter – again.
Yeah right of course that will happen, is motortax supposed to be allocated to councils too? Another big fat lie from our friendly government
Well like anything else, when people are paying for something it had better be up to scratch infrastructure-wise. They better be out using the money to improve areas that have constant line breakages in cold weather due to poor/old materials. If we have to pay then both sides have a part of this deal to uphold.
Its all spin! Again! Take my home town of New Ross for example. They are getting rid of 9 councillors each at a cost of 4k pa..yet they are creating 5 new County Council positions for the New Ross area, each at a cost of 30k pa. You do the math!!!!!!!!
5 new for Wexford County?
When the next elections come both FG & Labour will tell us how they did not increase direct tax on work but LPT and water rates are taxes on our after tax income. At least an increase in the tax rate is honest this is cynical and just a con on the people. As for will the local councils see any of it, not a chance!
U forgot USC
And pension grab, health insurance levy.
I’m stumped.. Can someone please explain to me where all our taxes go.. 6 years ago there was no USC, LPT or water charges and now the government have cut funding everywhere and still nothing has got better.. Our roads are a disgrace, our hospitals the brunt of a joke, our housing and rental situations non regulated allowing prices to rise and cowboy landlords to suck us dry this forcing us into mortgages we can’t afford to pay more taxes we can’t afford and if you get a decent paying job before you are 30 you may be able to afford health insurance without incurring a fine.. The country has been bled dry.. We need a cure, a real cure, not just new government but new people in the whole of the dail.. Do these people not realise we can’t afford it anymore.. F*ck me, is everyone else not as angry as me!!!
Sean, you would not believe the amount of extra taxes the landlord has to pay ,the parties want you to believe that its the cowboy landlords but I assure you it’s not that , the regulations are extremely stringent , the government are discreetly increasing taxes every day for all of us they are squeezing the people dry.Multiple Property ownership is not the easy life as you would led to think.
A good start might be the €8.5 billion interest bill payable on the national bail out debt the country has to pay this year alone.
The Irish LPT payer should organise ourselves into one massive bloc. Refuse to pay en masse if money is not spent properly or if rates increased without our consent.
Or we could stop voting in idiots? Using elections.
We are not one big bloc. The Revenue already has a tactic to combat this approach – by picking off each non-payer one by one.
Phil Hogan is a numpty of the highest order! Bar his cronies, in Kilkenny the rest of us hate him. Doubt he ‘ll ever get elected again, thankfully. His house is regularly egged so I ‘ve heard. I ‘ll be taking the Ming approach when they try charge me for water, I ‘m not going to pay for a “service” that’s not fit for its purpose…I wouldn’t give my tap water to the dog it’s that bad!
Just got Staggs local update in the letterbox today. According to that labour are doing a fantastic job at getting this country on its feet , positive illusion bias at its best methinks.
Mr Hogan is telling a fairy tale for small kids. We all know why local government received lot less than collected via ‘local’ property taxes. It is because the property taxes weren’t there to fund the local government to begin with but to plug the massive holes in the central government finances.
This shower make Quisling seem like a patriot, why arent our taxes falling if we are paying directly for services? I didnt sign up to taxes are for Bond holders, but you pay directly for everything you use. We are on to triple taxation at this stage.
I see he appointed a Kilkenny coco to senior management at Irish Water.
I really hate Phil hogan. Despicable.
Wait until the new building regulations kick in in March. That domestic extension you may be thinking of ?
All works of +40m2 will require the appointment of an Architect , Engineer or Surveyor who will have to produce a significant amount of design information before works start to be lodged with the local authority. This additional administration will require resources which the minister has not accounted for and I expect will require yet another fee / charge
Hogan is a wank..!!!ripped the fire service to shreds in this country and made people pay for fires…what’s next 200 euro for a heart attack!only a while ago his brother fine for drink driven..very good breed alright!
He is counting down the days to his full pension. He and the rest of them are all laughing at us. Ha Ha bhaaa bhaaa.
Property tax,water charges,privatised waste desposal and public transport, unionised monopolys gone the way of the dodo, etc etc etc, in case you are not up to speed on such matters,its been like this in the UK for a while,welcome to the real world folks.
So the uk is the model to follow is it? That’s the template? Right, so. *~*
A relative of mine pays 1400 sterling/ on water charges, they live in a 3 bed house
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