City facing hike in waste and parking charges

Date Published: 11-Feb-2010

Householders and motorists in the city could be facing increased waste disposal and parking charges from next July, following a recent European Court ruling

From July 1, Galway City Council will be obliged to charge VAT for such items as waste collection, car-parking, leisure and library facilities as well as advertising space.

If the Council was to pass on the charges directly to consumers, waste collection charges would rise by 13.5% (lower VAT rate) with car-parking and library access both rising by 21% (higher VAT rate).

The new tax regime is being brought about by a European Court of Justice ruling after a private car-park operator complained that the local authorities didn’t have VAT to pay, whereas he had.

A City Council spokesman told the Galway City Tribune that it would be forwarding a list of the services to be affected by the new VAT charges to the Department of the Environment today (Friday).

“These changes announced in the Finance Bill, come on foot of a European Court of Justice ruling, and we are just completing the compilation of the full list of services affected.

“At this point and time we are not in a position to say what impact these changes will have on the cost of services. There is also the issue of the City Council now also being able to claim back VAT on some of our expenditure items,” said the spokesman.

This week, the Council Head of Finance, Edel McCormack, circulated a memo to councillors, giving a provisional assessment of the changes’ impact.

She said that the Dept of the Environment were establishing a new group to agree a standard service list common to all local authorities and to agree the VAT rates applicable.

Read more on page 1 of this week’s Galway City Tribune