THE STATE’S 34 city and county councils face having to make significant cuts in local services as a result of an expected deficit of €100 million in revenues from the new household charge.
The Government has said it will have no role in addressing the shortfall caused by approximately one million households failing, or refusing, to pay the charge by tonight’s deadline.
As of 6pm yesterday 631,433 households, or one-third of those liable, had paid or registered.
While the number of registrations had risen by 61,159 in the previous 24 hours, the rate of increase had not accelerated sufficiently to constitute the “late surge” that Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan had predicted this week.
Minister for Finance Michael Noonan told parliamentary colleagues this week that the budgetary allocation for local government had been made – taking account of the €160 million revenue projected from the new tax – and no further funds would be made available.
Last night the spokeswoman for Mr Hogan said efforts to make householders compliant would become the sole responsibility of the local authorities and the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA), which has been given responsibility for collecting the new tax and compiling the database of all liable households.
The spokeswoman said each local authority would work with the budget they had been allotted from the local government fund, of which a portion of revenue comes from the new tax.
“The Minister has said consistently that this money is needed to maintain current services. Managers will have to deal with the situation as they find it. It is up to each local authority to work with the budget they have been given.”
The fund will be allocated evenly among local authorities, taking account of population size, and will not reflect the level of uptake of the new charge in each area.
Anecdotal evidence suggests the rate of registrations varies across the country, from 25 per cent in northern counties to 50 per cent in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.
LGMA chief executive Paul McSweeney said yesterday it would take some weeks to process all registrations. Once complete the agency would compile a full register, using a number of databases, including those of the ESB and Revenue; the second-home tax register and the register of private rented accommodation. The database would allow non-registering households to be identified. The extent of access to those databases will need to be agreed by Data Commissioner Billy Hawkes.
Setting out the next phase, Mr McSweeney said: “We would anticipate that in the first instance we will be sending letters to people. We’re not in the business of trying to hound people or go door-to-door.”
Mr Hogan’s spokeswoman said local authorities themselves would have to take a more active role, including initiating prosecutions against households who continue to refuse to pay.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny told the Fine Gael Ardfheis in Dublin last night that nobody liked to pay new taxes.
In his opening address to delegates Mr Kenny urged those who had not registered to do so by midnight tonight and “abide by the law of the land”.
As he arrived at the Convention Centre Dublin, Mr Hogan said he was confident of a substantial number of late registrations.
His ministerial colleague Alan Shatter accused Sinn Féin of hypocrisy and said they and other protesters should “get a life”.
There was no unified message from local authorities yesterday on what measures they would take if insufficient funds were accrued from the charge.
Fingal County Council has warned that it would have to consider cuts to services if funding from the household charge is not forthcoming.
No specific services had yet been identified for cuts if any cost savings were found to be needed, the council said.
County manager David O’Connor said this week he was nervous that later this year he might have to “rejig” budgets which could mean having to look at people’s full-time employment. He cited the possibility of cuts in services such as lifeguard cover.
A spokeswoman for Dublin City Council said no contingency plan had been devised. “The situation will be monitored throughout the year and we will expect them to advise us on what, if any, action should be taken.”
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown county manager Owen Keegan said any reduction in its allocation from the local government fund would “obviously impact on services”. As of yesterday more than 50 per cent of households in the council area had registered, he added.
Rural local authorities would be more likely to struggle as they are more dependent than those of urban councils on the central fund.
