Crackdown by local authorities to collect €271m in unpaid fees
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HOUSEHOLDERS and businesses face being dragged to court over unpaid local authority charges which run into hundreds of millions of euro, an Irish Independent investigation has revealed.
Authorities are owed a staggering €271m in unpaid waste and water charges, development levies and litter and parking fines.
A new crackdown on offenders is promised less than a week after city and county councils saw their funding slashed in the toughest Budget in years.
Councils are now employing debt collectors to chase developers who owe €130m in levies and businesses which owe €77m in unpaid water charges.
Local authority tenants owe over €33m in unpaid housing rents, with councils owed €28.7m in unpaid bin charges. Over €1.5m is owed in unpaid litter and parking fines.
Last February the Irish Independent contacted 34 local authorities asking them to provide details on the amount owed in levies, fines and charges.
Two months later, 12 had not responded, while partial answers had been provided by five others. This means that, in total, the councils are owed more than the figures revealed today.
The survey of local authorities found:
- One developer owes €813,000 to Monaghan County Council in unpaid levies;
- Some 173 are being taken to court in Wexford over the unpaid charges which are used to pay for roads, footpaths and water services;
- Councils have also taken legal action against developers who have failed to pay levies to fund essential infrastructure such as roads, footpaths and water services;
- Carlow Town Council is owed €186,738 in unpaid parking fines;
- Less than 50pc of householders in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown have paid for waste, and the council is owed €26.9m;
- More than half of all businesses in Dun Laoghaire (2,313 from 3,505) have failed to pay water charges, racking up a €4m bill;
- Almost half of all litter fines in Limerick County are unpaid;
- Tens of thousands of businesses are refusing to pay for water, citing the economic downturn. Councils are now threatening to cut them off;
- Around 65pc of parking fines issued in Co Donegal go unpaid because offending vehicles are registered outside the state.
Dublin City is owed the most (€55.25m), followed by South Dublin (€33.35m), Fingal (€33.215m) and Dun Laoghaire Rathdown (€33.04m).
Cork County Council is owed over €15m, while Limerick City is owed over €4m. Wexford County Council is owed almost €24.3m, while Kerry County Council is owed €5.4m.
Slashed
Since October, €131m has been slashed from the Local Government Fund which helps pay for council services.
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown is to take legal proceedings against 200 householders for non-payment of waste charges, it has also engaged a debt collection agency to secure payment from 4,500 households and sent warning letters in January to another 4,000 houses.
It has also secured 1,676 convictions for non-payment of parking fines and took 176 prosecutions for unpaid litter fines last year.
Local authorities say that defaulters will be pursued, especially given the current economic circumstances. "Local authorities are always concerned to maximise the revenue due to them from all sources," a spokesman for the County and City Manager's Association said.
"Given the current financial realities and the reduction in funding from government, this is even more important."
However, the Dublin Chamber of Commerce said that businesses were facing a hike in charges at a time when the economy was in freefall. They said water charges should be levied against householders to share the burden.
"This is an issue we've been talking about for some time. Charges are solely put on the business community, and they've gone up at a time when business is trying to cut costs," a spokesman said.
- Paul Melia
