At the September Meeting of Meath County Council on, Monday, 7th September, there was broad consensus by members regardless of political views to hold the current rate of Local Property Tax for 2027. It will come as some relief to hard pressed families as many of the councillors gave their opinions and it was clear to them that people are struggling to deal with the rising costs of living. The recent announcement of increased public transport charges, the expected rise in the ECB interest rates, with energy and food prices all rising left many of the councillors in no doubt that they were happy to maintain the status quo.
The Chief Executive had recommend to members to raise basic rate by 15% , stating it was important for the council to sustain service in delivery for the running of the budget in the county. In some of the statistics provided Meath householders are 97% compliant and with over 77, 819 properties contributing to the Local Property Tax .
The Ceo’s, Kieran Kehoe, said that 15% would yield close to €3,500,000 to Meath’s Local Property Tax (Lpt). In total a revenue of income for the 2026 budget is €259m. €62.6m comes from Commercial Rates, with €21m coming from Lpt. The rest comes with Grants and Subsidies. Next year the budget for 2027, it is estimated would leave a shortfall of €1.5m to be found based on the current rates of Lpt.
Contributions from the members on the issue included, Sinn Féin’s Eddie Fennessy who informed the members that, ” ESB is too high, Food too high, Heat too high, 30% in Child Care costs, hikes in motor insurances, and ECB rates up in the coming days, obviously we (SF) are not in favour”
Cllr Paddy Meade (FG) , very simply said ” I don’t think it is the right move, if I can guarantee to the local community we would see a benefit and if I knew that the provision of the services would be there, I would happily back the rise.”
Cllr Alan Tobin (FG) commented ” This county is doing well like Dublin and Kildare, The crash happened over 20 years ago with the additional funds, we actually go and do meaningful projects. He suggested ” We get into a closed session and have a mature conversation with members”
Independent Noel French was of the view ”We had consistent policy with regard to Local Property Tax, we generally leave them as they are ( Lpt rate), I like to think we are responsible as councillors and so is the Executive.”
Cllr Gerry O’Connor opinioned ”Why are we making the decision in September when others won’t make a decision in October. He also welcomed a discussion on the issues but also citing that ”grants have been reduced by government” but agreed ”I wouldn’t like to see an increase in the rate”
Cllr Everard, Independent councillor in Ratoath said there was a lot of money raised in the area and spent elsewhere. I don’t support it”
Cllr Marie Murphy said ” Dunboyne is a commuter town, no one has ever increased the rate by 15%. I don’t support it, we have a lot of young couples facing high child costs and other costs.”
This was the clear message coming across by other Cllrs including Ronan Moore but he added ” We need to have crystal clear indication of what an increase would achieve.’
It was proposed to keep the current rate by Cllr Gerry O’Connor and seconded by Cllr Wayne Harding.
