Local deprivation a factor in Laois County Council getting millions extra
Laois County Council is getting €3 million to spend in 2023 extra via the Local Property Tax after a review which took into consideration population growth and deprivation.
Laois County Council will receive €11,620,533 in 2024 as its new base LPT funding via the Tax on homes. This is an increase of €3,061,656 up from the existing 2023 base of €8,558,877. Overall, this is an increase of 36% of additional funding to Co. Laois. This is higher than the average increase of 21%.
Laois is getting a higher increase because of new recommendations on how baseline funding should be distributed. This was based on population, area, deprivation levels, local authority income-raising capacity, and national policy priorities.
Laois County Council was one of the local authorities to see a greater increase in funding than others.
Laois Offaly TD and Minister of State Seán Fleming welcomed the extra money.
"This is good news for Laois County Council and the people of Laois, as Laois County Council will have this baseline funding for 2024 for the delivery of services to the people in the county. This will help the council meet the increasing demand for services which are rightly required by the people in the county and the increasing costs in providing these services. This funding will be a help in easing the financial pressure on the Council in 2024.
"Finally, it is important that this announcement is made at this stage in the year so that the Council will be able to factor this increase in when preparing their budget for 2024, which will be presented to the Members of Laois County Council later this year. This review is very welcome. I look forward to maximum value for money being achieved by Laois County Council, as a result of this increase in funding," he said.
The Department adds that 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.