Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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621. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of the commercial rates harmonisation process for each local authority; the expected timeframes for completion of the process in tabular form. [10828/18]

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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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 Acts 2001 to 2015.  The Commissioner of Valuation has responsibility for valuation matters.  The Annual Rate on Valuation (ARV), which is applied to the valuation of 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.

The Local Government Reform Act 2014 provided for rates harmonisation to cater for differences between Annual Rates on Valuation (ARVs) of towns and counties.  The new structures of local government, including the establishment of municipal districts, provided an opportunity to achieve a more coherent approach to rates and charges on a county-wide basis.  In 2015, local authorities began the process of harmonisation to cater for differences between ARVs of former towns and of counties.  Increases or decreases in rates liability due to harmonisation are being phased in since 2015 and over a period of up to 10 years.  An adjustment mechanism is provided to phase in increases and decreases to be known as the Base Year Adjustment (BYA).  The adoption of the ARV and BYA in respect of each financial year are reserved functions of local authorities.

The information requested in respect of the status of the rates harmonisation process in local authorities is set out in the following table.