Local Government Act, 1946

Areas of charge of expenses of council of county.

10.—(1) Expenses of the council of a county shall, save where it is otherwise provided by law, be charged equally over the whole of the county.

(2) Expenses of the council of a county which are charged over the whole of the county shall be known as county-at-large charges.

(3) Expenses of the council of a county which are charged on an urban area in the county shall be known as urban charges.

(4) Expenses of the council of a county which are incurred in meeting a demand made by the commissioners of a town under subsection (1) of section 26 of this Act shall consist of—

(a) the amount of the said demand, and

(b) a sum (which shall not, without the consent of the Minister, exceed seven and one half per cent. of the amount of the said demand) equal to the estimated amount of rates to be written off as irrecoverable and the costs of collection,

and such expenses shall be charged on the area of the town and shall be known as town charges.

(5) If at the time when the estimate of expenses of a county council for a local financial year is considered in pursuance of section 24 of the County Management Act, 1940 (No. 12 of 1940) the area on which a portion of such expenses is properly chargeable cannot yet be determined, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say :—

(a) such portion shall be included in such estimate in the prescribed manner as a county-at-large charge and raised accordingly by means of the county rate for the said year;

(b) provision shall be made in the prescribed manner in the accounts of the council for determining how much (if any) of such portion should have been charged on any area other than the whole of the county;

(c) if, in accordance with paragraph (b) of this subsection, it is determined that any amount should have been charged on an area other than the whole of the county an appropriate adjustment shall be made in the prescribed manner in the county rate for a subsequent year by means of an increase in the sum charged on such area and a reduction in the county-at-large charges.

(6) Where expenses of the council of a county are charged on an area consisting of both an area which is not an urban area and either an urban area or two or more urban areas—

(a) the amount of the expenses to be charged on the portion of the area of charge which is not an urban area shall be the amount which bears to the total amount of the expenses the same proportion as the valuation of that portion bears to the valuation of the area of charge, and

(b) the amount of the expenses to be charged on the urban area or each urban area (as the case may be) shall be the amount which bears to the total amount of the expenses the same proportion as the valuation of such urban area bears to the valuation of the area of charge.

(7) For the purposes of subsection (6) of this section, the valuation of an area shall be the total of the valuations appearing in the valuation lists for the time being in force under the Valuation Acts of all the hereditaments in the area.