What to expect from Galway city’s Budget 2027 as council calls for funding imbalance to be addressed
Galway City Council has outlined a series of initiatives it hopes to include in next month’s Budget 2027 presentation, as it remains the most underfunded local authority in Ireland.
The council is proposing schemes aimed at supporting tourism, business owners and the wider Galway city community in Budget 2027, which will be voted on by councillors in November.
The proposals, which include measures to support festivals, improve litter management, enhance shopfronts and tackle vacant properties, are a response to local demand, Galway City Council said.
A proposed vacant property scheme would allow new businesses moving into vacant retail spaces to avail of a rates waiver over their first three years of operation.
A new incentive scheme targeting the tourism, hospitality and retail sectors is also proposed as part of the council’s commercial rates measures.
Certain businesses, including vape shops, betting shops and phone shops, would be excluded from the proposed scheme.
The council also plans to expand its Shopfront Enhancement Scheme to include Eyre Square and Woodquay, supporting repairs and accessibility improvements for shops and pubs throughout the city.
Other initiatives under consideration include measures to support the night-time economy and a development fund to help secure hosting a future Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in collaboration with Galway County Council.
Galway City Council baseline LPT in comparison with other Local Authorities. © Galway City Council
“Galway is competing with other destinations, nationally and at a European level, for investment, visitors, events and economic activity,” Galway City Council Chief Executive Leonard Cleary said.
He added that the council has a responsibility to secure sufficient locally generated income to maintain services and invest in the city.
Further details of the proposed allocations will be outlined when the draft Budget 2027 is presented to elected representatives on November 23. Councillors will then have the opportunity to consider and adopt the budget.
However, as budget discussions approach, Galway City Council continues to raise concerns about what it says is an imbalance in the funding it receives through the Local Government Fund (LGF), which it attributes to the way population figures are calculated.
The LGF is supported by three primary sources: Local Property Tax (LPT) revenues, motor tax revenues and the Government’s central fund. However, Galway city does not receive funding through the latter two sources, leaving LPT as its primary source of funding.
LPT is collected nationally by Revenue and distributed to local authorities according to a system of weightings. Galway City Council argues that these “simplistic” weightings fail to account for the city’s seasonal student population and tourism, contributing to its position among the least-funded local authorities.
Using these weightings, every local authority is entitled to receive a minimum amount of funding under the LPT allocation process, known as the ‘Baseline’.
The council said it would generate €10.3 million in LPT revenue in 2026 but would receive €8.3 million, with 20pc of the income redistributed to other local authorities across the country. Its baseline was set for €5.1 million for 2026.
Galway City Council is calling on the Government to address the funding imbalance. The council is seeking a baseline funding allocation that reflects not only the city’s resident and student populations but also the number of people who travel into Galway daily.