The Programme for Government commits to a change to the allocation model for Local Property Tax (LPT) and specifically to 100% local retention of LPT in the area in which it is collected. Seperately, I have also commited to reviewing baseline funding for all local authorities following the first revaluation of LPT by the Office of the Revenue Commissioners. That Office is continuing its work on the revaluation and the associated returns from property owners. As of yet however, my Department has not received a breakdown of the new LPT yield per local authority. Once this important data set is available, the review of LPT baseline funding can progress.
My Department has advised the Public Appointments Service (PAS) of the requirement to hold a recruitment competition for a replacement permanent Chief Executive in Galway County Council on a permanent basis. It is now a matter for PAS to put the necessary recruitment arrangements in place.
There is a requirement for all Chief Executive posts for Local Authorities to be advertised openly on the www.publicjobs.ie website operated by PAS and the timing of the advertising of this post is a matter for PAS.