Saxony's Minister of Social Affairs Petra Köpping (SPD) considers the failure of the talks on municipal finances to date to be fatal. "This is causing uncertainty and is already having consequences that are severely shaking confidence in politics," she explained in Dresden on Monday. "Because if something doesn't work in the municipality, people will notice immediately. If Saxon towns and municipalities are then unable to even draw up a budget for 2025, that would be a catastrophe."
Köpping was speaking in her capacity as the SPD's lead candidate for the state elections on September 1. This means that the cash situation in the municipalities is now becoming an election campaign issue. "One thing is clear: our municipalities need good funding, and the Free State and the Minister of Finance must ensure this. CDU policy must finally become more responsible here. The support and appreciation of our cities, municipalities and districts must not end with party conference or Sunday speeches."
Last Friday, the leading municipal committees sounded the alarm after talks with Finance Minister Hartmut Vorjohann (CDU) failed to produce any results. Without a significant improvement in financial allocations, the high cost increases over the next two years would be unmanageable, according to the Saxon Association of Towns and Municipalities. The Landkreistag put the impending deficit for the next two years at 833 million euros and blamed rising social spending in particular.
There are also implications for the state budget. Last week, the Ministry of Finance called on the other departments to provide evidence of savings totaling around 265 million euros in so-called other expenditure by the end of the year. This relates to material costs and expenditure for IT or rents. "The specific distribution and allocation within the individual plans will be based solely on the priorities of the respective department," it said.
Copyright 2024, dpa (www.dpa.de). All rights reserved
