Liberec will not increase property tax for industrial and commercial areas from next year. Mayor Jaroslav ZĂĄmeÄnĂk (Mayors for the Liberec Region) withdrew this item from yesterday’s city council meeting, which means that Liberec will be able to change the rate from 2025 at the earliest. According to the law, municipalities must adopt the change to the property tax ordinance by 1 October at the latest in order for it to take effect from the following year. ZĂĄmeÄnĂk justified the withdrawal of the item from the meeting by saying that there was not enough support for it and that it was necessary to look for a “fairer model”. Opposition LOL deputy JaromĂr Baxa considers the postponement for another year a big mistake.
“Because the city won’t get the revenue it would need for, for example, the horrendously expensive pool renovation that you are about to start and which you are going to acquire practically entirely on debt, or you are going to acquire it from incidental revenues. I think that’s just not good management,” Baxa said. The planned reconstruction of the pool will probably require more than CZK 1 billion. The city is now looking for a company to renovate the swimming stadium through a tender process.
The proposal to raise property taxes in Liberec, a city of 100,000, originally came from the city council, where 10 of 11 councillors supported it. “Although we discussed it gradually for three months, there were still various comments, especially about fairness. So we decided to propose further discussion and search for an even fairer model. Even though we know that this will only apply to 2025,” ZĂĄmeÄnĂk told ÄTK after the council meeting. He said he would form a working group, to which each representative club should nominate a representative. “To have a careful discussion about what proposal will get support, ideally from all the representative clubs,” he added.
The mayor told reporters after the council meeting that they want to double the property tax for 35 industrial and commercial sites in the city. He justified this on the grounds that these sites generate increased traffic. The mayor wanted to use the extra money from them for road repairs. If the city increased their property tax, it would raise about CZK 35 million more for the budget.
The current property tax rates in Liberec have been unchanged since 2012. According to the mayor, the city receives about CZK 140 million annually from this tax, of which CZK 70 million from homeowners and apartment owners and about the same amount from business entities.
Source: CTK
