Kerry County Council in strong financial position despite high payroll costs

By Alastair Tibbs, The Kerryman

A new report has shown Kerry County Council is sitting on a healthy surplus in comparison with other local authorities despite payroll costs remaining high.

The annual audit of Ireland’s local authorities shows Kerry County Council (KCC) has the sixth highest budget surplus and is saving a significant proportion of its revenue.

The National Oversight and Audit Commission has published its annual report comparing local authorities across a broad range of metrics.

Finance results show KCC had a budget surplus in 2025 of over €7.1m, behind only the four Dublin local authorities and Cork County Council.

Revenue savings show KCC saved an ambitious 3.16pc of revenue from 2024, placing it almost joint second with South Dublin County Council and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Council, which each saved 3.17pc of their revenue.

Fingal County Council saved the highest percentage, at 4.15pc.

This has increased KCC surplus by roughly €83,000 from 2024.

Revenue expenditure shows KCC is still spending above average per head of population in comparison to other local authorities while embarking on its saving policy.

Total payroll costs for the council remain high, with roughly 43pc of revenue spent on staffing, placing KCC as the third highest among local authorities.

The national average for local authorities sits at around 33pc. Only two local authorities saw a decrease in payroll costs as a percentage of their revenue expenditure from 2024.

In 2025 the council had a total of 1,272 staff, with census data indicating that KCC had around one member of staff per 122 people living in the county.

This again ranks the council third nationally, behind Dublin City Council and Leitrim County Council.

The overall Central Management Charge (CMC), which includes overheads such as corporate affairs, finance function, human resource function and pensions, is around the average for a local authority, at 13.8pc of revenue expenditure.

Combining both payroll costs and CMC, in terms of revenue expenditure, puts KCC sixth nationally.

Regarding sick related absences, KCC came joint third with Waterford City and County Council, on the percentage of paid working days lost to medically certified sickness, at 4.44pc.

For self-certified sick leave, KCC was ranked in the bottom half of local authorities, at 0.26pc of paid working days lost.