Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 November 2020
357. Deputy Seán Canney asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his attention has been drawn to the fact that Galway County Council receives one of the lowest revenue allocations; if the matrix by which the Local Government Fund is calculated in each local authority will be made available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36193/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe funding system that applies to local authorities is a complex one, as authorities derive their income from a variety of local sources including commercial rates, charges for goods and services and funding from Central Government.
Central Government funding of local authorities similarly presents a complex picture, with transfers, both current and capital, coming from a wide range of Departments and Offices, not solely from my Department, for a variety of purposes. Some streams of funding are delivered directly from funding departments to local authorities, while others are routed through departmental agencies.
Additional detail on Central Government funding of local authorities is provided in the Comptroller and Auditor General's Annual Report, accessible at the following link:
https://www.audit.gov.ie/en/Find-Report/Publications/2020/2019-Annual-Report-Chapter-2-Central-government-funding-of-local-authorities.pdf
Across all schemes and funding sources my department, as it was configured at the time, provided €46.8m and €51.1m to Galway County Council in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
A once off allocation of €1m for Galway County Council has also been approved in recent weeks. This funding is linked to the operation of municipal districts and is subject to a small number of requirements, including that the funding be divided equally among the municipal districts. The allocation in question is for 2021.
The current Local Property Tax (LPT) local retention policy began in 2015 and since then 80% of the estimated LPT liability in each local authority area for a given year is retained in that area to fund public services, notwithstanding any local variation decisions. The remaining 20% of LPT is re-distributed to provide equalisation funding to those local authorities that have lower property tax bases, due to the variance in property values and density across the country. Local authorities also have the option of varying the local rate of LPT in order to increase the funding available. I note that Galway County Council has not exercised this option in recent years. Detailed information on the LPT retention system, including equalisation funding and allocations is published by my Department on an annual basis and is available at the following link:
https://www.housing.gov.ie/search/archived/current/category/housing/sub-topic/local-property-tax/sub-type/funding-allocation/topic/chargestaxes/type/publications?query.
