The Upper Palatinate towns are demanding more money from the Free State for their increasing number of tasks. This was announced by the mayors and lord mayors at the Upper Palatinate district assembly of the Bavarian Association of Towns in Amberg. The finances of the municipalities are in a state of disarray. Although the municipalities’ income is still stagnating, their expenditure is “galloping away”. In addition, the municipalities have to shoulder additional tasks that come from the state and federal government, such as all-day care for primary school children or the financing of municipal hospitals.
To the article: Financial equalization: Bavaria pays record sum to municipalities
These are the biggest challenges
Regensburg Mayor Gertrud Maltz-Schwarzfischer (SPD), Amberg Mayor Michael Cerny (CSU) and Wiesau Mayor Toni Dutz (CSU) said the biggest challenges currently are all-day care for primary school children, the financing of public transport, climate adaptation measures and, above all, the financing of municipal hospitals. They are therefore calling for more money from the municipal financial equalization scheme of the Free State of Bavaria.
The so-called association quota should be increased, explained Bernd Buckenhofer from the Bavarian Association of Cities. Currently, 12.75 percent of the Free State of Bavaria’s income goes into the municipal financial equalization pot, and in the future this should be 15 percent, he demanded.
“Municipalities have a right to funding that is appropriate to their tasks. This includes an efficient municipal financial equalization system.” Bernd Buckenhofer from the Bavarian Association of Cities
Will there be a need for prioritization in the future?
There will be a summit with the state government in November. The Upper Palatinate city leaders fear that they will no longer be able to get their budgets approved and will have to prioritize their mandatory tasks. There would then be no room for maneuver, and voluntary services would have to be eliminated. Construction prices have risen sharply in recent years, so that promised subsidies often no longer correspond to the real costs. Migration is taking its toll, and tasks such as all-day care or digitization are on top of that.
Mayors want to stop debt
Amberg’s mayor Michael Cerny described the situation at the municipal hospitals at a press conference. Due to a lack of refinancing of the health system by the federal government in recent years, the city will have to make up a total of 18 million euros in deficit for the St. Marien Hospital in 2025. This means that the independent city’s debt will double in 2025, “without me as a municipality having any influence on it.”
The mayors want to stop these developments in municipal finances. In Upper Palatinate, 31 cities belong to the Bavarian Association of Cities, including the three independent cities of Amberg, Weiden and Regensburg.
