In the last few hours, Cork City Council has voted in favour of a 10% reduction in the Local Property Tax in 2015.
The motion was passed at council meeting this evening with 14 votes in favour, 11 against and two abstaining. Although Fine Gael claimed the vote will cost the city €600,000.
However, those claims were rebuffed by Fianna Fáil who insisted the city will break even next July when the first of three 5% hikes in local authority rents kick in bringing in around €500,000.
The news comes after councillors in Louth voted earlier this evening to reduce the local property tax by 1.5%, the equivalent of taking between €140,000 to €150,000 out of the county council budget. In a meeting that lasted approximately two hours, the reduction was passed on the casting vote of the chairman of the council Fine Gael’s Oliver Tully.
It was an amendment to a motion that had sought a reduction of 7.5%; motions for a reduction of 2%, a reduction of 15% (the maximum) as well a motion for no reduction at all, were defeated before the 1.5% amendment was passed. The amendment was proposed by Fine Gael Councillor Kevin Callan.