Kerry County Council Motor Tax Office, Princes Quay.
KERRY County Council have revealed how much it cost to move the motor tax office from county buildings to the old town council building on Princes Quay.
The figure was released after a question from Cllr Johnny Healy Rae (Ind) regarding the costs and the reason for the move at the monthly meeting of Kerry County Council on Monday.
Since last December, all motor tax queries and transactions in Kerry have been carried out at the new office.
Council Management revealed the move cost €58,000. Some costs related to structural issues with the building along with maintenance work such as, electrics, alarm and security systems said Council Management in reply to Cllr Healy Rae’s question.
Management said as a result of the change, a seven per cent staffing reduction had been achieved in the past year.
The seeds of the the move where sewn by the extensive programme for local government reform carried out by the government.
It was felt, following the break up of the Tralee Town Council that the local planning and housing authority should make the move from Princes Quay to County Buildings.
Due to the large size of the department, it was decided that planning and housing would take the old motor tax building, with motor tax moving the other way.
Since the move, queuing times are less than a half an hour for 97% of transactions and turnaround time for postal applications has been reduced to one day.
Comparing figures from Q1 2014 to Q1 2015, postal renewals and applications were down by almost 1,500 – from 7,218 in Jan-Mar 2014 to 5,722 in Jan-Mar 2015.
Online applications, comparing the same periods, were up six per cent from 65.5% to 71.5%.
