Financial crisis in Upper Austria: Communities on the edge of the abyss!

Financial crisis in Upper Austria: Communities on the edge of the abyss!

What is happening in the communities of Upper Austria? The answer is alarming: the financial situation is tense and has achieved a dramatic extent. In many ways, this causes unrest and political responsibility lies with the ÖVP and the FPÖ, which has been steering the country's fortunes for years. The high mandatory taxes, which are particularly created by social welfare associations, the disease tax and the state levy, push enormously to the budgets of the municipalities. A large part of the community budget is being forwarded to the land, which leads to a serious lack of funds for important tasks on site. It is the areas of infrastructure, educational institutions and care offers that suffer from these financial constraints. This also has an impact on the local associations that rely on the financial support of their communities.

Mayor: Inside, the difficult choice is between indispensable mandatory editions and the promotion of volunteering, which not only endangers the community, but also the diversity of local life. Stummer, a critical voice leader, has denounced the hypocrisy of the politicians of the ÖVP and FPÖ, which can be celebrated at village festivals while they endanger the structural foundations of social life. There is a clear demand in space: the levy load must be reduced and the financial support of the municipalities by the country is increased massively in order to secure the future of cities and municipalities. Stummer particularly underlines the need to maintain the financial basis of the municipalities in order to maintain the quality of life of the citizens. Meinverkirk reports on these urgent problems and the concerns of the municipalities.

The situation becomes precarious

Another look at the situation raises the question: What does the financial future of the municipalities look like? According to Spiegel There are recent agreements between ÖVP and FPÖ Budget cuts. These measures are particularly devastating and lead to structural declines in the municipal financing scope. The forecast is terrifying: by 2025, every second municipality in Austria is assessed as a downhill community - a trend that will be further tightened.

The central problem is the growing co-financing obligation of the municipalities for social services and hospitals, which are regulated by levies. For the citizens, this means not only a deterioration in local services, but also bleeding out financial independence. Forecasts show that until 2028 only 40 cents of one euro will remain from the shared tax pot for the municipalities - compared to over 50 cents in 2019. This is impressive that a fundamental reform is necessary so as not to drive the municipalities into bankruptcy.

looking for solutions

cities and municipalities are ready to contribute to financial consolidation, but they often reach borders when it comes to savings potential. The theoretical scope in the personnel area can hardly be implemented. A reduced personnel cost rate of only one percent would mean deleting around 850 posts annually. At the same time, the need grows in important areas such as childcare and all -day schools. Savings in factual expenditure, grants or investments could help at short notice, but endanger the quality of life and the subject of the location of the communities in the long term.

The Secretary General of the City Association, Thomas Weninger, therefore vehemently demands that the cities make the necessary funds available. Mayor Matthias Stadler also brought structured changes to the permanent securing of the finances of cities and municipalities. Investments and construction projects in particular have to be postponed, which continues to inhibit the future development of the communities. People are 80% satisfied with the performance of their cities, but this satisfaction could soon be on the brink if there are no determined reform steps to maintain general interest. The demands for a solution to the levy problem and the reform of property tax are getting louder and are long overdue. [Kommunal] (https://kommunal.at/keine-ents voltage-be-bei-gemefinance) illuminates the need for these measures and the pressing challenges to which the communities have to face.