A fair way of applying the charge

[mcaul]

the unfairness in this charge will be for those in Dublin / Cork and otehr city locations as the value fo their house are higher than most areas.

It came into my head today - and terribly simple.

Each local authority sets thier county rate - then this is multiplied by the 1/100,000 of the value.

E.G

Kildare, 4 bed semi house valued at €250,000 - multiplier = 2.5
Kildare rate = €170 - household charge, 2.5 x 160 = €425


South Dublin (a lot more houses and higher value so lower rate needed)
4 bed semi value 420,000 (multiplier of 4.2)
South Dublin rate €110 - household charge = €462


If this was applied, then city dwellers would pay similar rates to rural dwellers.

Also means council can set rate every year based on expenditure and afetr sending out list of expenditure to households.

 

[Wexfordman]

Fairer way, its a service charge, so should be based on number users of services, not how much your neighbour paid for their house. So, charge should be:-

cost of running local services/number of residents in area!

Everyone pays equal amount,no get outs, no excuses, but definate accountability with regards wastage and spending in relation to the cost of delivering these services at local level.

This could be the one true fair tax introduced into this hole of a country if they did it properly. But they wont!

 

[Dermot]

It would appear that the service charges are a given. My major concern about them is that they are being brought in without any real reform in the Local Authorities. I hear the same story in surrounding counties. I am quite friendly with what I would consider decent employees in a local authority at different levels. They tell me about administrative over staffing, over staffing of engineering dept, too many executive staff and poor accountability on spending. I have spoken to a couple of Co. Councillors on the subject of making the executive accountable and they feel that they would be "got at" if they push it too far and that there were too many "cute hoor" councillors who would isolate them. Ideally it would be great to have a genuine independent local authority but I will not hold my breath that there is going to be any radical reform. It has to be a radical reform or nothing. It is proposed that down the road that local authorities will be able to raise their own rates but my fear about this is that you cannot hold an arrogant executive to account.

 

[elcato]

Everyone pays equal amount,no get outs, no excuses, but definate accountability with regards wastage and spending in relation to the cost of delivering these services at local level.

Like a flat fee of €100 perhaps ?

 

[delgirl]

My major concern about them is that they are being brought in without any real reform in the Local Authorities: administrative over staffing, over staffing of engineering dept, too many executive staff and poor accountability on spending.

IMO this is the government's biggest barrier to raising money for local authorities.

These days it's all about value for money, whether you're going to eat at a restaurant, buy a car or stay at a hotel.

Our local council has provided abysmal services and have seriously mis-managed council funds.

For example, there is a problem in my town with dogs defacating on the pavements. Instead of tackling the errant owners, the Council decided to spend €26,000 on a ride-on pooper scooper machine, which has been standing idle in the council yard for the last two years as the council workers are refusing to use it unless they get a salary increase for 'change of work practice'!

They also decided it would be a great idea to move the local GAA facilities to about 3 miles outside the town, the current facilities are located about 1 mile from the town centre and are accessible on foot by the young people in the area. They decided to locate the new GAA facilities on one of the most beautiful scenic pieces of land outside the town, which they were planning to re-zone, and, before they even checked to see if they could get permission to build in this place of outstanding scenic beauty, they paid a local farmer €1m for a field to gain access to this land from the main road.

After loads of objections from local people, not least from those using the current GAA facilities who would have had to have a car to reach the proposed new facilities, planning permission was denied.

A huge amount of money was wasted on this and other projects and, as usual, no-one has been made accountable.

 

[T McGibney]

Each local authority sets thier county rate - then this is multiplied by the 1/100,000 of the value.
E.G
Kildare, 4 bed semi house valued at €250,000 - multiplier = 2.5
Kildare rate = €170 - household charge, 2.5 x 160 = €425

South Dublin (a lot more houses and higher value so lower rate needed)
4 bed semi value 420,000 (multiplier of 4.2)
South Dublin rate €110 - household charge = €462

If this was applied, then city dwellers would pay similar rates to rural dwellers.

Also means council can set rate every year based on expenditure and afetr sending out list of expenditure to households.

Fairer way, its a service charge, so should be based on number users of services, not how much your neighbour paid for their house. So, charge should be:-

cost of running local services/number of residents in area!

Everyone pays equal amount,no get outs, no excuses, but definate accountability with regards wastage and spending in relation to the cost of delivering these services at local level.

This could be the one true fair tax introduced into this hole of a country if they did it properly. But they wont!

Sorry, nothing remotely fair about either of those approaches, both of which are based upon the premise that local authority managers are free to set their own budgets and, by extension, paycheques - therefore incentivising them to spend as much as they possibly can.

For more on the theory of this see the budget maximizing bureaucrat.