Krefeld's budget crisis: political debates about rapidly rising deficits!
Krefeld's budget crisis: political debates about rapidly rising deficits!
The discussion about the budget deficits of the city of Krefeld for the years 2024 and 2025 is in full swing. According to a report by Lokalklick.eu , the forecast deficits amount to 62.4 million euros for 2024 and 101.7 million euros for 2025. Cyprian (CDU) had presented these numbers in a message. Originally, a deficit of 25.2 million euros was promised for 2024, but this was significantly corrected.
The FDP parliamentary group has already submitted an application for the council meeting on April 1. The proposal includes a household security concept that should serve to identify savings options. FDP parliamentary group leader Joachim C. Heitmann expressed concerns that the current savings of 75 million euros may not be sufficient. The lack of positioning of the treasurer on the previously "edited" expenses of a total of 130.4 million euros is also criticized.
public reactions and warnings
Political criticism is reinforced by the fact that there are fears that the city administration could try to keep the actual debt until the local election on September 14th. CDU parliamentary group leader Timo Kühn describes the financial framework of the city as problematic and warns of the need to secure household from 2026.
The compensation reserve is around 104 million euros by the beginning of 2024, but will drop to 42 million euros due to the deficits. Another minus of 102 million euros will be forecast for 2025, which will significantly burden the general reserve. The SPD parliamentary group spokesman Jürgen Hengst emphasizes that Krefeld has been consolidated in the past ten years, but the structural underfunding by the state and the federal government tightens the problematic financial image.
The SPD warns in this context that household barriers may endanger the city's social infrastructure. In addition, the state's minor payments in the municipal finance law amount to 42.5 million euros for 2025.
The draft budget in detail
In parallel to the problems, the city of Krefeld submitted a balanced budget draft for 2024 and 2025, as reported by krefeld.de . The draft, which was presented in the city council on February 7, 2024, shows a "black zero" for both years. Mayor Frank Meyer referred to four positive aspects: the balanced budget for the sixth time in a row, no tax increases for citizens and companies, the preservation of voluntary services in culture as well as the planned investments in transport infrastructure and quality of life.The investment focus includes a strengthening package for the city center with a budget of six million euros, the renewal of roads and sidewalks in the amount of 15.4 million euros, as well as the new construction and renovation of schools with planned costs of 122 million euros. The budget for 2024 has a volume of around 1.12 billion euros, while in 2025 around 1.14 billion euros are estimated.
The trade tax revenue is planning an increase, with record income of 210 million euros in 2023 and a forecast of 190 million euros in 2024, with annual increases of two million euros.
In the discussion about the Krefeld budgetary situation, the importance of the distributions of urban daughters for financial autonomy, especially by city treasurer Ulrich Cyprian, is repeatedly emphasized. These versatile aspects show how complex the financial challenges, but also the opportunities of the city of Krefeld are. stadtag.de provides further information on the general municipal financial policy situation.
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