€1.5m. increase in funding to Mayo County Council in 2024
THE Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, has announced a €75.4m. increase in Local Property Tax (LPT) baseline funding to local authorities - bringing the total to €428.4m in 2024 - following a review of how the money is allocated.
As part of this review, Mayo County Council will now receive an additional €1.5m. in funding in 2024. This will see the county’s baseline LPT funding increase by 7.5% from €19,812,344 this year to €21,312,344 next year.
Every local authority receives a minimum (’baseline’) amount of funding from the LPT, supplemented by funding from the exchequer where a local authority’s LPT income is lower than its baseline. This baseline funding is essential and recognises the essential role played by local authorities, not only in delivering a broad range of services day-to-day, but also in successfully leading the local response to emergency situations, such as sector’s establishment of Community Call during Covid-19, and more recently the community response to support the Ukrainian crisis.
Said Minister O’Brien: “Local authorities, such as Mayo County Council, play an integral role in the delivery of services to our citizens. I am aware of the growing challenges faced by local authorities due to the increase in demand for services and the growing cost of providing these. This significant increase in funding should go a long way towards easing the pressure on the sector.
“Since 2020 I have been committed to a review of the baseline funding of local authorities and I established a working group earlier this year to examine the issue. I am pleased to announce that today’s funding has been guided by the review that has taken place and the recommendations of the working group.”
As well as assisting local authorities to meet the costs of providing essential services, ensuring a minimum increase in baseline funding to each local authority enables a level of flexibility and discretion for each authority to address local resource demands arising from the delivery of priority government initiatives.