Approval of Commitment Loan for Theater Orchestra Biel Solothurn: Biel Voters Make Decision for Next Four Years

7,172 voters put a yes in the ballot box, 4,381 said no. The voter turnout was 40.5 percent, as the city announced on Sunday.

The SVP was against the proposal. The city’s mountain of debt is getting higher and higher, so cultural contributions of this amount are no longer justifiable. In any case, there is a lack of diversity: almost half of the city’s cultural contributions flow to TOBS.

From the perspective of its supporters, the house makes a contribution to Biel’s attractiveness, quality of life and supra-regional steel power. The argument that you can also go to a concert in Bern or Lausanne is not valid: with the same argument you could say that there are ice hockey games in Bern or Zurich.

The commitment loan for the city library of almost two million francs annually until 2027 did not cause any waves. This proposal was accepted with 9,196 yes votes and 2,522 no votes. This corresponds to a yes majority of over 78 percent.

In Biel there are a total of ten cultural institutions of regional importance, which also receive cantonal funds and contributions from regional communities.

In eight of the ten cases, the city of Biel’s contributions were given final authority by the local council or city council, for example to the Biel Photo Days and the Kunsthaus Pasquart. Due to the amount of contributions, the loans for TOBS and the city library had to go to the people.

The city of Biel also has 20 service contracts with local cultural institutions from the Robert Walser Foundation to the AJZ-Chessu.