Local authorities in the Shannonside Region saw an increase of over 1 million euro in commercial rates in just one year. The figures show that Longford, Leitrim and Roscommon County Council's total rates in 2023 was over million euro more than what was gathered in 2022. Commercial rates are levied on any property used for commercial purposes and are issued and collected by local authorities. The increase followed on from the tail end of the Covid Pandemic, which saw many council's record significant rates deficits. Longford saw the highest increase in rates paid to the council from 2022 to 2023 with a jump of over €600,000 leading to a total of 8 million euro.
Close to 11 million euro worth of commercial rates were paid in Roscommon in the same period, an increase of €295,000. While Leitrim County Council collected almost €260,000 more in rates in 2023 for a total of just over 6 million euro. Meanwhile, the three local authorities in the Shannonside region wrote off almost €300,000 in commercial rates in 2023. Roscommon County Council wrote off over 253,000, Leitrim council wrote off almost €16,000, while Longford's figure was just under €15,000.
