For the municipalities

Province to forgo 127 million euros

The Landhaus in Graz

(Bild: Jürgen Radspieler)

It's not just the coalition negotiators in Vienna who are struggling with money: the finances of the Styrian municipalities are in dire straits. The SPÖ is now proposing that the state should forgo a three-digit million sum in favor of the municipalities.

Styrian mayors will be up for election in March. They have financially difficult years behind them: the costs for social welfare associations are getting higher and higher, the expansion of childcare costs a lot of money. 51 of the (then still) 286 municipalities have massive financial difficulties, according to a response to an inquiry by the former provincial government in summer 2024. Bruck an der Mur imposed a budget freeze at the time due to liquidity problems. 

As leader of the opposition, SPÖ leader Max Lercher is now coming to the aid of "his" local and city leaders: "I fought in the National Council until the end for one billion euros for municipalities without co-financing. Unfortunately, nothing comes from the federal government," he criticizes and launches an initiative in the provincial parliament.

Styrian SPÖ chairman Max Lercher

(Bild: Juergen Fuchs)

127 million euros go from municipalities to the state
The largest Styrian opposition party plans to table three motions in the near future. In addition to more money for the expansion of childcare and a funding program for public housing construction, the SPÖ is calling for a temporary suspension of the so-called state levy: municipalities pass on 7.66 percent of the funds they receive from the federal government in financial equalization to the state. For the 2025 financial year, a sum of 127,385,800 euros is expected, which the state would then have to forgo. This measure "would provide the municipalities with urgently needed financial leeway", they say.

The SPÖ is not the only party making this demand: The Graz Neos and the KPÖ in the state parliament have also already proposed the suspension or abolition of the state levy.

Crisis summit called for
The SPÖ is also calling for a "municipal summit" - as the President of the Association of Municipalities, Erwin Dirnberger (ÖVP), recently did - at which solutions should be sought together with the state.