"Klagenfurt saves money"

Restaurateur advises: “City should stop marketing”

Gerti Höferer gives city manager Christian Scheider money-saving tips.

(Bild: Christian Tragner, Krone KREATIV)

In the "Krone" series on the budget crisis in the provincial capital, restaurateur Gert Höferer now has his say. 

Klagenfurt has to tighten its belt, only radical savings guarantee a budget in the current financial crisis.

Now Klagenfurt's trendy restaurateur Gert Höferer has come forward with suggestions for savings. He runs the "Teatro" restaurant, is a market caterer and works at many events:

"How a civil servant in the town hall can quickly rack up 1000 hours of overtime is completely incomprehensible to any businessman. Mayor Christian Scheider and the heads of department should urgently put a stop to this. Because overtime costs a lot and should therefore be monitored much more closely."

Admission freeze in the magistrate's office
Höferer is also in favour of a recruitment freeze in the magistrate's office, which should be organized more effectively in terms of personnel. "When it comes to retirements, the number of new appointments should be set to zero. The city can save money there."

However, he finds the city's high expenditure on tourism and marketing incomprehensible. "With Kärnten Werbung, the tourism association and city marketing, there are three players that actually have the same goal. That's why city marketing should be discontinued."

In 2024, city marketing had a budget of 1.2 million euros. "The tourism association could easily take over these tasks - if certain events were to take place again. City marketing did next to nothing for the Christmas market. And at the Benediktinermarkt, the market restaurateurs cover the costs for the popular after-work parties themselves."

Höferer: "As a city magistrate, I am of course in favor of culture, but city marketing in this form does not make sense."