Special meeting in Louth to decide on Local Property Tax (LPT) rate

By Olivia Ryan, The Drogheda Independent

Louth County Council are set to hold a special meeting to decide if any change will be made to Local Property Tax (LPT) for 2026.

The issue was raised at the July meeting of the local authority, where councillors heard that as this is a “revaluation year” they would have to make a decision before the end of August on whether the LPT base rate will be amended, or if it will remain the same.

The meeting was told that in any other year a decision would have to be taken by the middle of October, with a workshop held in September, ahead of the annual budget meeting. But this year the onus is on members to make a decision by August 31.

Director of Service, Bernie Woods, explained that for every one per cent increase or decrease represents €115,251 for the local authority and the full increase of 15% would be just over €1.7 million.

She explained that if they decide to increase or decrease the rate, councillors can also decide how many years this change would apply to, up to 2030.

Ms. Woods added that for 2026 Louth County Council has received an additional €600,000 in their Local Property Tax allocation. The baseline is now €11.966 million before any decision is taken by the members.

She explained that although the bands have changed, it “hasn’t had a major affect”, with almost 90% of households in Louth falling within the first three bands. Around 48% of households in Louth are in the first band, which means a LPT of €95 in 2026 (Valuation up to €240k), over 24% fall within the second band of €235 (up to €315k), and just over 18% are on the third band rate of €333 (up to €420k). A further 10% are in top rate of over €333 (Valuation over €420k).

The Director of Service outlined the weekly increase on the householder, if members agreed to increase the rate, explaining that a 1% increase would mean just 2 cents extra per week for properties that fall in the lowest band, and six cents a week for households which are in the third band. An increase of 5% would cost those on the first band an extra 9 cents per week, and an additional 32 cents each week for properties that fall within band three.

Louth County Council does not hold a monthly meeting in August, so it was advised a special meeting could be held to ensure a decision is made by 31st August.

Cllr. Pio Smith proposed that councillors defer making any decision until a special meeting is held, to discuss the matter further. This was seconded by Cllr. Andrea McKevitt. It was agreed to hold the meeting on August 26.

Cllr. John Sheridan told members that they should “think very carefully about this over the new few weeks.”

He said there had been “huge fanfare a few weeks ago about the Local Democracy Taskforce and the review of local government,” but added this issue had been “on the books since 2013, and Louth has never made a move on it.”

He added that a number of other councils had made changes over the last few weeks.

"We are talking about more powers, but this is a power we have never had the courage to engage with.”

“My own personal view is that most constituents are rational if you can discuss something with them, if you can show projects which are deliverable with this you can win an argument in relation to it.”

"So I appeal to my colleagues to have constructive decisions about this over the coming weeks.”