Kilkenny County Council adopts expanded budget with commercial rate hike for 2026

Kilkenny County Council unanimously adopted a proposed budget which will avoid any cuts to core services, but lead to an increase in commercial rates at a meeting in County Hall on Monday.

The budget has a total expenditure of €129.4m, an increase of €8.9m (7.4%) from the previous year.

Although the Council will boost funding for many core services without cuts, the raised expenditure will be partly financed by a 4% hike in commercial rates for businesses, with Chief Executive Lar Power saying that it was “not sustainable” to leave out a rise in rates and that “we have to address the level of inflation on our service”.

Mr Power went on to assert that “we believe it to be a fair budget,” and though an increase in rates will be of worry to many business owners as expenses continue to soar, a waiver scheme means that the 57% of premises who are paying €3,000 or less will see an average cost of only €30 more annually.

The majority of increased Council spending will be utilised in its housing budget, which is rising by almost 20% to €36.9m. The largest section related to housing is rental accommodation scheme/leasing, which is to get a 35.6% rise to €17.5m.

The second largest source of expenditure is the roads budget, set to increase by 5.4% to €33m with maintenance taking up the majority of spending at €27.1m. Another area seeing significant investment is recreation and amenity, surging by 8.5% to €10.2m, including a 10.3% boost for parks and open spaces.

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Funding is on the up for development management including initiatives for tourism promotion and facilities with a 4.5% increase to €16.1m on the way. Environmental services are also in line for a raise of 5.2% to a total of €20m including a 16.5% jump in spending on landfill operations.

The Council’s central costs will rise by 3.7% to €16.9m with a 20.7% increase in HR function for salaries and training while there were slight decreases in the agriculture and food and miscellaneous services budgets.

After the figures had been presented, Cllr David Fitzgerald recognised the months of work that had gone into the budget but criticised its complexity saying that it was “impossible for us to fully understand” and that it “was not fair and reasonable”.

Cathaoirleach Cllr Mary Hilda Cavanagh added that she had endeavoured to make sense of the budget when she was first elected and “51 years later, I’m still none the wiser”, but also praised it as “expansive and progressive,” and that Kilkenny County Council was “the envy of many councils around us”.

The total Council expenditure in the pre-Covid budget of 2019 was €88m meaning 2026 will be a 46% increase in investment in just seven years, something which Cllr Michael Doyle called the mark of a “proactive Council”.

In his closing statements, Mr Power acknowledged the frustrations of Cllr Fitzgerald around the complex nature of the budget’s figures but said it was developed from a national template and that the “objective is to make Kilkenny the best place it can be”.

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