Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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561. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the amount of compensation that will be paid to each local authority as a result of the global rates revaluation, in tabular form; the amount each local authority stands to lose as a result of the process, before compensation; the way the level of compensation was calculated in each case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42514/15]

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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590. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the estimated figure for the reduction in revenue from commercial rates for each local authority as a result of the Valuation Office's global revaluation, if the commercial rates charged by each local authority were to remain the same in 2016, and no other source of revenue was found to substitute the lost revenue. [42951/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 561 and 590 together.

Local authorities are under a statutory obligation to levy rates on any property used for commercial purposes in accordance with the details entered in the valuation lists prepared by the independent Commissioner of Valuation under the Valuation Act 2001.

The Commissioner for Valuation has sole responsibility for all valuation matters, including the global valuation of property of public utility undertakings under Part 11 of the Valuation Act 2001, as amended. The Valuation Act 2001 comes under the remit of my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

The Valuation Act 2001, as amended, provides for global valuations of utility undertakings, to be carried out by the Valuation Office every five years and entered on the central valuation list. The most recent global valuations carried out by the Valuation Office are in respect of Gas Networks Ireland, Iarnród Éireann and telecommunications companies BT Ireland, Eircom, Vodafone, Three Ireland and Meteor. On 4 November 2015 the Valuation Office issued a copy of the Valuation Certificate and a schedule setting out the apportioned value to each rating authority. The previous valuation for these utilities had taken place in 2010. The Global Valuation Certificates show a reduction in the combined valuations for these utilities of €112m. Moreover, the reduction in the global valuation of the ESB, following an appeal to the Valuation Tribunal, will reduce the rates payable by the ESB from 2016.

The levying and collection of rates are matters for each individual local authority.  The annual rate on valuation (ARV), which is applied to the valuation for each property, determined by the Valuation Office, to obtain the amount payable in rates, is decided by the elected members of each local authority in the annual budget and its determination is a reserved function. This process has recently been concluded in each local authority as part of the budgeting process for 2016. The implications of the Commissioner of Valuation’s global revaluation of utility infrastructure for individual local authorities will ultimately be dependent on each authority’s ARV, and its overall income and expenditure decided on in its budget.

My Department engaged with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and there will be a once off adjustment in support from the Local Government Fund in 2016 to local authorities affected by the global valuations.

The estimate of the reduction in rates income arising from the new global valuations and the amount of the adjustment in the Local Government Fund in 2016 is set out in the table. The amount of the adjustment per local authority was calculated with reference to the reduction in valuation of each global utility (including the reduction in valuation of the ESB following an appeal to the Valuation Tribunal) in each local authority area, applying the latest available Annual Rate on Valuation (ARV) to obtain the estimated reduction in rates income and by reducing the amount by just over 28% to accord with the available funding.

*Fingal County Council had already adopted its Budget prior to 4 November 2015.