Mayors warn:

No more money – kindergartens in danger!

According to the Association of Towns and Cities, kindergarten groups could be closed due to the financial forecast.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/mattegg - stock.adobe.com)

The Association of Towns and Cities discussed the current financial situation. The result: the situation is precarious, long-term relief packages are needed. The population must be able to rely on cities and municipalities. In addition, a new federal government is needed quickly: and it must act quickly.

The finances at federal and state level are catastrophic. As a result, cities and municipalities are also struggling with their budgets. The Legal Committee and the Finance Commission of the Association of Cities and Towns - Austria's representative body for cities and larger municipalities - recently met to discuss the precarious situation. 

Business centers and kindergartens in danger 
Budget freeze in Bruck an der Mur, spending brake in Klagenfurt, no balanced budget in Graz: the money tap is being turned off throughout Austria. And Salzburg is also sounding the alarm: the mayors of the province are warning that "the municipal services of the cities can no longer be maintained". Among other things, this would affect the continuation of building yards or the closure of kindergarten groups.

As early as June 2024, the KDZ (Center for Public Administration Research) warned in its financial forecast for the Austrian Association of Cities and Towns that cities and municipalities would lack liquidity. Around half of all municipalities in Austria would be municipalities in liquidation by 2024. What that would mean: Current income and expenditure would not be balanced, the state would have to manage the finances and step in.

"The population must be able to rely on us"
The KDZ's recommendations: "Restore the cities' liquidity quickly and make investments." Thomas Weninger, Secretary General of the Association of Cities and Towns, commented: "The examples from our cities show that it is 5 to 12. We must strengthen the cities sustainably with sufficient financial resources. The financial equalization and the municipal package were the first steps, but they are not enough. We need structural reforms and sustainable measures, not a series of short-term aid packages that cities are largely unable to access due to a lack of their own resources."

Weninger warns: "The population must be able to rely on the cities and their public services, such as the available kindergartens, building yards, indoor swimming pools and public transport. That is our mission and our responsibility!"

New federal government must act
According to the Association of Cities and Towns and the KDZ, "a reform of property tax, reforms in the health and care sector, relief for cities in terms of levies to the federal states and an unbundling of transfers between federal states and municipalities as well as a long-term change in the vertical distribution of financial equalization funds are needed. And last but not least, the rapid convening of a municipal summit under the next federal government."