Vienna transfers less

Minus 107 million euros: Upper Austria must make substantial savings

After the financial shortfall of 500 million euros in the state budget calculated by the state SPD, the next bad news has now come from the Ministry of Finance. There is less money for Upper Austria, which is why substantial savings have to be made. 

 "The current forecast for revenue shares is now 3.57 billion euros, which is over 107 million euros less than was forecast in the summer," calculated Governor Thomas Stelzer (ÖVP). This makes it clear "that we have to make savings".

The bad news - which had already been announced the previous week and has now apparently been substantiated - came "unusually late, at the end of the budget preparation process", said Stelzer. The sum for 2025 had been reduced by a further 2.9 percent. The forecast for 2026, 2027 and 2028 is also bleak, namely around 100 million euros less per year than previously communicated.

We always handle taxpayers' money very carefully and calculate very precisely. But it is clear that we have to make savings.

Landeshauptmann Thomas Stelzer, ÖCP

"Would like to know how that was calculated"
The forecast for the municipalities has also worsened, albeit to a lesser extent, namely by 2.1 percent - this now amounts to a total of 1.96 billion euros in revenue shares for all Upper Austrian municipalities, according to Stelzer, who currently holds the chairmanship of the provincial governors' conference. "We want to know how the calculations were made at next week's conference of finance officers," he announced.

The previous week, the governor had already hinted at the mid-term balance sheet of the Black-Blue government that the shortfall could be higher than in the medium-term financial plan, which envisages a deficit of around 120 million euros for 2025. Savings targets were already issued to the departments a few weeks ago.