Linz: Successful accounting ensures economic stability!

Linz: Successful accounting ensures economic stability!

The city of Linz has drawn attention to itself with a positive invoice for 2024. The income from the municipality amounts to 906.5 million euros and is therefore 37.5 million euros above the estimate. Despite the challenging framework, the city administration is optimistic about the economic stability of the city. The main reason for the additional revenue is additional funds from the financial equalization, including 10.9 million euros from the nursing fund and other grants to support childcare, such as OE24.

The city's operational expenses amount to 928 million euros and are therefore part of the budget. With regard to the social sector, the expenditure of 362.6 million euros is remarkable and make up almost 40 percent of the total budget. This sum flows into childcare, senior institutions and various social aid. The health expenditure is also not to be neglected with 111 million euros, with the city emphasized that all investments in education, culture, infrastructure and leisure should be continued.

stable personnel costs and material expenses

The personnel costs of the city of Linz were 263.9 million euros, which is slightly below the planned amount, despite the high wages. The factual expenditure of 294.8 million euros, on the other hand, exceeds the plan for around 1.5 million euros, which is primarily due to the increased prices in the energy sector, rent and in the care and childcare area. Finance City Councilor Tina Blöchl (SPÖ) was pleased with the stable financial situation of the city and the planned investments.

The municipal finances in Austria are shaped by various sources of income. This includes even raised municipal taxes, contributions, fees and financial allocations from the federal government. The financial assignments of the federal state from the financial equalization, which are an important source of income for many municipalities, are particularly important. As already mentioned, Linz benefits through a number of grants that contribute to the positive development of the city finances. Further information on how municipal income and expenditure are structured can be found on Wikipedia.

Overall, the financial statements for 2024 shows that the city of Linz is well positioned in order to continue to invest in important areas of general interest and public services in the future, despite the existing challenges.