|
|
|
|
APPENDIX XXI.CALCULATION OF CONTRIBUTIONS IN LIEU OF RATES.Clerk to the Public Accounts Committee, Dáil Éireann. With reference to the questions of your Committee on 5th instant regarding paragraph 28 of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report on the Appropriation Accounts for 1957/58, I beg to suggest to the Committee that, in view of the complexity of the matter at issue and in amplification of my replies to the Chairman s questions, a copy of the reply dated 23 Meán Fómhair, 1958, to the Comptroller and Auditor General s query regarding water rates, be annexed to your Committee s report as an appendix. (Signed) J. N. McGRATH, Commissioner of Valuation. 18 Márta, 1959. The Accounting Officer, General Valuation Office, 6 Ely Place, Dublin. Borough of Sligo, Clonmel Urban District, Kilkenny Urban District, Laoighis County Council. It is noted that the rate of contribution in lieu of rates claimed by the Borough of Sligo was reduced by an amount of 16.6 pence in the £ in respect of the maintenance of water supply. As it appears from a test examination of claims submitted by Urban District Councils and County Councils that no deduction in respect of domestic water rate, or the relative amount included in the general rate for the maintenance of water supply, has been made in calculating the amounts of the claims, the Comptroller and Auditor General would be glad to be furnished with the observations of the Accounting Officer on the matter. Selected vouchers herewith. (Signed) K. M. FOWLER, Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General. 18 Aibreán, 1958. Comptroller and Auditor General. Subhead A.—Rates on Government Property Vote 1957-58 1. The law relating to the charges made for water supply from local authority mains differs as between boroughs and urban districts on the one hand and county health districts on the other. In the latter case the charge for water supply does not appear to be included in the county rate and consequently no question of deduction of domestic water rate or its equivalent from claims for contribution-in-lieu of rates by County Councils would appear to arise. 2. As regards boroughs and urban districts the law is as follows:— Public Health (Ireland) Act, 1878 Sections 61 & 66 empower the authorities to provide water for public and private purposes and to charge water rates or rents. Section 67 applied, inter alia, section 53, Waterworks Clauses Act, 1847, and section 12, Waterworks Clauses Act, 1863, which provided that the owner or occupier of any dwelling house or part thereof is entitled to a water supply for domestic purposes if he pays the water rate and that the expression “domestic purposes” in this connexion “does not include the supply of water for cattle or for horses or for washing carriages where such horses or carriages are kept for sale or for hire or by a common carrier or a supply for any trade, manufacture or business, or for watering gardens or for fountains or for any ornamental purposes.” Local Government Act, 1946 Section 19 (1) and (2) consolidated all rates in boroughs and urban districts into a municipal rate excluding only “charges (commonly called contract water rates) made for the supply of water to particular hereditaments for purposes other than domestic purposes or for the supply of water under special contract to any person not otherwise entitled to such supply.” 3. Since 1946, therefore, the abolition of domestic water rates in boroughs and urban districts has resulted in entitling, without special payment, the owner or occupier of any dwelling house or part thereof to a water supply for domestic purposes. For all other water supply the owner or occupier must pay a special charge—in addition to paying the indivisible municipal rate on his premises. 4. The court decided (Liskeard Union v. Liskeard Waterworks Co. 7 Q.B.D. 505; 30 W.R. 292) that a workhouse was a dwelling house in this context. Although not specifically mentioned it is implicit in the judgment in Postmaster-General v. Nenagh U.D.C. (K.B. 1913; 14R. 238) that Nenagh Post Office was held to be a dwelling-house. The Department of Local Government consider that “dwelling house” covers colleges and schools, hotels, boarding houses and restaurants (undated memorandum to County Managers re Water Rates and Rents). In Lurgan U.D.C. v. Armagh Co. Co. (C.A. 1935; 69 I.L.T.R. 201) the court held that a technical school was not a dwelling-house. 5. For a positive definition of “domestic purposes” the following quotation from the judgment of Buckley J. in South West Suburban Water Co. v. St. Marylebone (1904 2 K.B. 184) appears to be the most apt: “the words ‘domestic purposes’ include user not merely for washing, drinking, flushing closets and the like but extend to user for …. ‘the amenities of the house’; …. the limits of such amenities must be ascertained with due regard to what is reasonable, and what is the ordinary user in our day.” 6. The general principle upon which the payment of contribution-in-lieu-of-rates to rating authorities is based is that the State endeavours to ensure that the authorities derive as much revenue from properties occupied by the State as they would obtain if the properties were occupied by solvent private ratepayers. The position of the private ratepayer being as set out in 3 above it is the considered opinion of the Commissioner of Valuation that in calculating contribution-in-lieu-of-rates in boroughs and urban districts no deduction should be made from the municipal rate in respect of domestic water charges and that no charge should be made by the rating authorities for water supplied for domestic purposes to State-occupied premises which would come under the heading of dwelling-houses. 7. In the year ended 31st March, 1957, Sligo Borough Council in claiming contribution-in-lieu-of-rates deducted from the municipal rate the item of 1s. in the pound in respect of water in the break-up of the municipal rate appearing on the Notice of Rates Having Been Made. In the following year the Council did not deduct a similar item of 16.6 pence in the pound. When this was queried the Council, although objecting, did not take a strong line in the matter or adduce cogent reasons showing that the Valuation Office request for a deduction was not in accordance with the principle upon which contribution-in-lieu-of-rates payments are based. The Commissioner, having fully considered the matter following the receipt of your query, is now satisfied that insistence on the deduction was incorrect. Incidentally it is understood that Sligo Borough Council has this year altered its Notice of Rates Having Been Made to exclude mention of any separate item for water. 8. The form (A.40—specimen attached*) used for contribution-in-lieu-of-rates claims in boroughs and urban districts is unchanged in substance from that in use prior to the passing of the Local Government Act, 1946. Its amendment is now under consideration. (Signed) D. Ó SUILLEABHÁIN, for Accounting Officer, General Valuation Office 23 Meán Fómhair, 1958. * A copy of Form A.40 was submitted to the Committee. |
||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
