Financial crisis: municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate before collapse!

Financial crisis: municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate before collapse!

throughout the country and also in the constituency of Kaiserslautern, the municipalities are under great financial pressure. Many of them fight with high debts, which leads to serious problems in housekeeping. The city of Kaiserslautern lacks financial resources to repay their debts of 160 million euros, despite the existing 370 million euros in liquidity loans that were taken over by the country. Annual deficits grow, especially due to increasing social expenditure, which are a significant burden in Kaiserslautern and in the other twelve-independent cities of Rhineland-Palatinate. According to a report by Rheinpfalz , none of these cities will achieve budget equalization.

In this context, various politicians have made suggestions to relieve the municipalities. Matthias Mieves from the SPD calls for an old debt cut for heavily indebted communities. He also proposes the simplification of funding applications and the elimination of the municipal share. A full financing of tasks that are assigned to the federal government is also on its agenda. Over the past three years, almost 100 million euros in funding have been provided for the constituency.

diverse demands to improve the situation

Sebastian Münzenmaier from the AfD demands that the federal and state governments have to pay for their financial obligations. He also expresses criticism of migration policy, which in his opinion brings out the finances of the municipalities, and proposes a stricter immigration and deportation policy. Alexander Ulrich von der BSW also refers to the need for old debt regulation and calls for more municipal self -government and a review of the principle of connexuality.

The green Lea Siegfried focuses on the expulsion of highly indebted municipalities and requires a complete financing of the municipal mandatory tasks by the federal government. At the same time, Frank Burgdörfer from the CDU demands that the municipalities can finance their tasks from the general tax revenue without elaborate funding projects.

Christian Kopp from the FDP occurs for restoring the principle "Whoever ordered". He suggests that the prohibition for direct financial support for the municipalities through the federal government and places a special focus on digitization of administrative processes. Jasmin Awan from the Free Voters demands that the federal and state governments be assumed for given municipal tasks.

criticism of current financial policy

The tense financial situation is not only considered critical by local politicians. A survey by the German City Day shows that 95 % of the cities assess their budget situation as rather bad or very bad in the next five years. In addition, 37 % of cities no longer have to present a balanced household. The President of the City Day, Markus Lewe, demands reforms of the debt brake and emphasizes that the problems have structural reasons and were not only caused by misconduct by the cities.

The current savings take on drastic dimensions, which is evident among other things in reducing local services. Swimming pools, sports clubs and public libraries are affected, and many cities are forced to delete bus and train lines and to dismantle personnel. This not only leads to longer waiting times, but is also increasingly burdening the relationship between the citizens and their state, as the Mayor of Leipzig Burkhard Jung warns.

Tagesschau emphasizes the tragic consequences of the constraint for the municipal infrastructure, which is of crucial importance for the quality of life of the citizens.