SPÖ voted alone

Big bang in the municipal council Big deficit for 2025

(Bild: Evelyn Hronek)

The situation is precarious: this is also the case in 120 other municipalities, which also have a substantial deficit in their 2025 budget. After lengthy negotiations with the speakers and an initial deficit of 14.8 million, the 2025 budget deficit in the municipality of Wolfsberg still stands at 6.4 million euros. Only SPÖ mandataries voted in favor. That has hardly ever happened before. 

There is also a big deficit in the Wolfsberg municipal treasury: the 35-member municipal council discussed this on Thursday. In the financial budget of 81.5 million euros and expenditure of 88 million euros, there is a gaping hole of 6.4 million euros next year. The negotiations were even more dismal. At the start of the talks with the speakers, the shortfall was as high as 14.8 million. The precarious situation was exacerbated by a letter from the state supervisory authority. Although the budget estimate was correct in purely numerical terms, the municipality was still making too few savings. 

Inflation and levy increases are to blame
Finance Officer Christian Stückler: "Inflation on the one hand and the 30 percent increase in levies on the other have contributed massively to these figures." Since 2021, there has been an increase of 7.2 million. For the first time in ages, none of the six ÖVP, five FPÖ and two Green councillors voted in favor of next year's budget. The 2025 budget was voted on by 22 SPÖ mandataries. Acting Deputy Mayor Alexander Radl: "If 120 other municipalities have a budget deficit, mismanagement is not the reason for this financial misery." He calls on the federal and state governments to act.

The opposition parties were particularly critical of the fact that they had not been sufficiently involved in the party discussions in advance. "As a city councillor, I would have expected us to sit down together within the departments back in August," said city councillor Josef Steinkellner (ÖVP). He also suggests: "We should reduce the municipal council from 35 members to 31 people." The dissolution of the municipal utilities advisory board would also help to save money. SPÖ municipal councillor Armin Eberhard, however, sees this as peanuts. We won't balance the budget with this." 

The Freedom Party also disagreed
Councillor Isabella Theuermann (FPÖ) echoed similar sentiments: "This estimate does not comply with the principles of efficiency, economy and expediency. We cannot agree to this." The other parliamentary groups, including the Greens, are particularly annoyed by the additional motion put forward by the finance officer, which states that elected representatives should be held accountable. Green spokesperson Michael Hirzbauer: "We are not invited to talks, but are asked to be good savers." Despite the lively discussion and the serious topic, local councillor Harry Koller (SPÖ) praised the objectivity of the discussion: "If the other parliamentary groups feel that they were not involved enough, that was not the intention. We will reorganize our cooperation in the future. The offer of cooperation was always there, but apparently it was not communicated enough." 

Only minor investments
Despite the multi-million euro hole in the budget, there will be some investments next year that are already fixed. The Theissenegg fire brigade will receive a new four-wheel fire engine costing around 300,000 euros. 700,000 euros will go towards renovating the town's residential buildings and over 600,000 euros are earmarked for road repairs.