Longford Leader Columnist Mattie Fox: A confusing value barometer

Longford has a confusing value barometer in terms of house prices on the one hand, and the cost of property tax on the other.

Longford County Council has raised property tax by a staggering 15% of the old base price.

Making Longford the county with the highest property tax rise in the country. I’m told that the raise was voted for unilaterally, with every single councillor on board.

Hmmm.

House prices in Longford remain abysmally low - although some slight improvement has been noted - yet the property tax has increased by 15%.

Some have concluded that the powers that be, saw an opportunity to capitalise on low house prices, by taxing those who actually pay, by a distortionary amount.

That may not be the case, but the majority of people who were asked about the property tax expressed that view.

Some are quite incensed by the new raise in taxes.

This money is, however, ring-fenced for spending specifically on local county improvements, according to sources.

In Longford however, many say that that can take strange turns on the road before anything of significance happens.

Nonetheless, we believe our county councillors will take great care in the allocation of this new windfall in monies being paid by the residents of county Longford, and ensure that rural areas are proportionately served by whatever allocation is deemed fair.

Anything less, and county councillors could pay for their decisions.

Of course we’d all be glad to see our main towns benefitting, including every major town in the county.

So this shouldn’t be turned into a petty party war.

Once the county council starts trying to score points, nobody listens anymore. They must adopt a more intelligent attitude.

But it’s an onerous task to judge and apportion what is reasonable, and most of all fair, in the matter of spending.

County councillors get paid pretty well for the task, so it’s proper and appropriate that they should be watched, carefully, as funds are being distributed.