Mayo County Council approves €219m budget for 2026
Mayo County Council has signed off on its €219.6 million budget for 2026 following a series of late amendments that will see extra funding go towards housing, community initiatives and planning enforcement.
It was confirmed that commercial property rates would remain unchanged for the year to support local enterprise. As well, councillors adopted the Small Business Support Scheme, which offers a 5pc support grant to businesses valued up to €42,500.
Members had already voted last July to retain the 10pc Local Property Tax variation for 2026. The LPT will raise €23m in total, €11.8m of which comes from the equalisation fund, and it accounts for just over 10.5pc of the council's overall budget.
During the meeting, housing was discussed at large. The Croí Cónaithe, otherwise known as the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant, will receive €6.48m as part of the budget.
However, councillors recognised the administrative issues the scheme is currently facing, as well as the growing backlog of applications from people waiting to get their grant.
"We have a problem in the office, and there is a huge delay in relation to the approval of grants, and that is down to resources," Cllr Damien Ryan told the meeting.
In response, an amendment was made to secure €100,000 from LPT for staffing and administrative support within the Croí Cónaithe office to clear the backlog.
Several amendments to community and councillor supports were also approved.
The General Municipal Allocation (GMA) will rise by €11,500 to €50,000 per councillor, to reflect rising costs and "give councillors the same discretion as they had ten years ago".
Funding for community promotion will increase from €35,000 to €100,000, to allow the council to meet what were described as "small asks".
Some of these asks included an additional €10,000 for volunteers who help to maintain Leigue Cemetery and €15,000 for the Mayo Fleadh Cheoil committee to assist with the running of the annual festival.
To balance the increase, councillors agreed to reduce Pathfinder loan charge allocations by €65,000.
Planning services will also receive a boost. Of almost €950,000 in additional planning and enforcement funding, €100,000 has been ring-fenced specifically for enforcement, bringing the budget to €363,000.
Cllr Ryan requested that quarterly update reports on planning enforcement be added to future council meeting agendas.
The final amendment centred on improving the rollout of verge trimming, managing overhanging trees and progressing retrofit schemes, with a full report on all three issues to come before councillors in January.
"We need to look at how we can affect the delivery of those three things," Cllr Ryan added.
Retrofit performance came under particular scrutiny following a recent Local Government Management Agency report that ranked Mayo "second from the bottom" nationally, with only 52 local authority homes retrofitted in the past two years.
Councillors noted that €370,000 has been earmarked for retrofitting in 2026.
"Our speed of delivery is really poor, and we need to focus on that," said Cllr Peter Flynn, "We can't have social houses sitting vacant for months on end."
He added that the council should be able to turn around social homes within "six to eight weeks."
All amendments were seconded and adopted, and the 2026 Budget for Mayo County Council was approved.
During the meeting, Cllr Jarlath Munnelly made a motion in relation to Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) funding.
Cllr Munnelly raised concerns over the news that the council had returned €235,000 in unspent funding to the Department of Rural and Community Development.
He proposed that the council never again finds itself in a situation where LIS funding is not fully drawn down.
"I don't care what we have to do, we will never have that situation again," he said, "It's a cardinal sin
in my book that we didn't draw down our full allocation of LIS."
His motion was seconded and approved by the meeting. LIS funding for 2026 is €1.7m.
Joyce Country and Western Lakes Geopark in north Galway and south Mayo received an additional €50,000 for 2026. The investment was warmly welcomed, with Cllr Ryan describing the project as a "gamechanger" for south Mayo.
Regional roads will also receive a significant boost, with just under €1m in additional funding bringing the overall allocation to €9.9m for next year.
Cllr Flynn welcomed the investment and said, "It's important that we continue to invest in them, they are the key arteries into and around our county. It is important we put as much as possible into them."
Elsewhere in the budget, expenditure for housing assistance will increase by almost €8m, bringing the total allocation to €32.7m. This covers the Rental Accommodation Scheme, Housing Assistance Payments, Housing for All as well as other schemes.
Project management for the Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) at Ireland West Airport Knock, has been allocated €339,681 for 2026. This funding is expected to support the development and publication of the SDZ Roadmap, among other developments.
Economic Development and Promotion will receive €9.7m, which includes support for areas such as the the Small Business Support Fund, Tourism and Development Promotion, and the Town Centre First Programme.
The Fire Service has been allocated €14.3m, an increase of almost €1.5m from last year. Funding for swimming pools and leisure centres has risen to €4.6m, and library services will receive just under €4m in 2026.
It was also highlighted that the council's deficit has been cut by €900,000 in two years, bringing it down to €1.2m.
This article has been funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.