Faster payment

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The province of Burgenland has extended the disaster aid guidelines. The funding amounts have been increased to 150,000 euros for private households and 75,000 euros for companies.

(Bild: Christian Schulter/Christian schulter)

Governor announces restructuring of the responsible department to speed up payment of flood aid and also criticizes the "slow" administration. 

Criticism from those affected by the handling of disaster aid continues unabated. There has been talk of rejected applications as well as stalled disbursement of funds. Most recently, Deputy Head of State Astrid Eisenkopf promised more staff and faster processing.

Staff restructuring after crisis meeting
Following another crisis meeting, Governor Hans Peter Doskozil is now intervening in terms of organization and personnel in the responsible Department 4 of the Office of the Provincial Government in order to speed up the processing of the financial aid. Markus Pammer, head of the office of Provincial Councillor Leonhard Schneemann, will be the main person responsible for coordinating the further management of the flood aid, and staff from Doskozil's office will also be involved.

The political leadership must be able to rely on these guidelines being implemented by the administration to the letter.

Landeshauptmann Hans Peter Doskozil

"Those affected can rely on the fact that if their applications are reviewed positively, the payments will now be made as quickly as possible," announces the governor, who is not sparing in his criticism of his own administration: "There have been clear political guidelines in the form of government resolutions. We promised the people tangible help, quickly documented the damage with teams on site and also created the personnel capacities so that applications can be processed promptly."

Own contact point in Oberwart
The internal organizational measures that have been introduced are intended to meet this requirement. Each case will be examined individually, and a separate contact point for those affected will be set up in the Oberwart district. A total of around 1500 applications have been received.

Hardship regulation if social criteria are met
"Processing has recently been significantly accelerated. Aid amounting to over one million euros was approved last week," says Deputy Governor Eisenkopf. In addition, a hardship regulation should enable funds to be paid out even in the event of a negative assessment, provided that certain social criteria are met.