Letterkenny-Milford councillors agree €250K draft local funding plan for 2027 - Donegal Daily

Letterkenny-Milford Municipal District has agreed a provisional General Municipal Allocation of €250,000 for 2027.The allocation is equivalent to €25,000 per ea...

Letterkenny-Milford Municipal District has agreed a provisional General Municipal Allocation of €250,000 for 2027.

The allocation is equivalent to €25,000 per each of the district’s ten elected members and is used to support local funding priorities.

Director of Finance Richard Gibson told members that the intention is to protect local funding at its current level next year.

Across the county, the Development Fund Initiative is worth €925,000 annually, while the separate Members Development Fund amounts to €370,000, or €10,000 per councillor.

The Members Development Fund supports locally based community projects and group activities that benefit the community. The funding is distributed among the 37 Elected Members of Donegal County Council each year.

A further €259,000 is provided through the Public Lights and Minor Infrastructure Fund, equivalent to €7,000 per elected member.

The Housing Estate Maintenance Programme has a countywide allocation of €555,000.

Together, the four funding streams amount to approximately €2.1 million annually. They support a range of local community, development, infrastructure and housing estate projects across Donegal.

“I’m sure all of you agree that we should do our best to try and increase those in the years ahead because those pots of money do very, very good work across the county,” Mr Gibson told Letterkenny-Milford councillors today.

Many more expenditure headings will go into the 2027 Budget.

Letterkenny-Milford councillors were briefed on the council’s current revenue budget, which stands at €222 million and will provide the starting point for Budget 2027.

Mr Gibson said Donegal County Council spent more than €500 million across the county in 2025, delivering services in areas including housing, roads, environment and community development.

He said much of the council’s day-to-day work can often go unnoticed because citizens "rightly" expect those services to be in place, adding that the council’s role and level of investment across Donegal continues to grow.

"We are only growing in relevance and growing in the amount that we spend in the county," Mr Gibson said.

The 2027 General Municipal Allocation was agreed to allow the Municipal District to agree its draft allocation ahead of Donegal County Council’s plenary meeting to adopt Budget 2027.