Galway City is a victim of its own success

Galway City is a victim of its own success – it has a population of just shy of 80,000 but the local authority has to provide services for 110,000 people.

The peculiarity was highlighted by City Council Chief Executive, Brendan McGrath as he set out the city’s budgetary position for 2017.

“Our funding model is based on the old model of 75,000 people, not the 80,000 that are here. But for quite significant portions of the week, we can have 110,000 people using the services. That’s the point I’m making,” said Mr McGrath.

“We’re funded for 80,000 people but providing services for 110,000 people. It’s a good complaint to have in many ways, and I acknowledge that. Some 22,000 people commute into the city every day for work, so clearly they are working in Galway City and we’re getting rates on those premises, I do acknowledge that.

“Another 8,000 people travel to the city, also on a daily basis, for education purposes, medical reasons, recreation etcetera.

“Those people put pressure on the roads, they put pressure on parking, the water services are being used etcetera, and the funding model in the past didn’t recognise that. 85% of what we spend is collected locally. Of the €75 million we spend next year, €56 million of that comes from local sources, through commercial rates, property tax and income from charges for services we provide.”

In his preamble to this year’s City Council Budget, Mr McGrath pointed out that funding from central government does not generally reflect the increased demand on the Council’s services from commuters.

For more on this story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune