PressSplit
The Association of German Cities considers local public transport to be “dramatically underfunded.” © Michael Schick
The Hessian Association of Cities is calling for adequate funding for local authorities. The state government is warning the association against making cuts.
The Hessian Association of Cities is calling on the black-red state government to provide the municipalities with sufficient money to fulfil their tasks. “We are constantly confronted with new tasks,” said the President of the Association of Cities, Wiesbaden Mayor Gert-Uwe Mende (SPD), on Thursday after a presidium meeting in Wiesbaden City Hall. Because new requirements are not adequately financed, there are “great concerns about the ability of the municipalities to act.”
Mende specifically mentioned local public transport, which is “dramatically underfunded”. But the implementation of the legal right to all-day care for primary school children, which will gradually come into effect from 2026, is also causing headaches for the cities. The municipalities expect necessary investments of 1.2 billion euros for this alone, “which will not be reimbursed to us”.
Problems with full-day care
Although it was the federal and state governments that agreed on the full-day requirement, there was “far too little support” for the municipalities. He criticized the state government for “insufficient willingness to talk” on this issue.
Mende stressed that the members of the Association of German Cities were in agreement on these issues, regardless of which party the respective city leaders belonged to. There was a “cross-party solidarity” and all decisions were made unanimously during the presidium meeting on Thursday.
No savings for local authorities
It is also important for the municipalities that the funds in the municipal financial equalization system should not be cut, added Mende. The cities are alarmed because they have initial indications that the state government, made up of the CDU and SPD, wants to cut back on this as well as on the budget for next year as part of its austerity efforts. The municipal financial equalization system should under no circumstances become a “quarry for the state’s consolidation efforts,” Mende said. The cities need enough money to be able to fulfill all their tasks.
Heiko Wingenfeld (CDU), Mayor of Fulda and First Vice President of the Association of German Cities, announced that his association would accept the invitation from Health Minister Diana Stolz (CDU) to negotiate a “health pact”. “We will play an active role,” assured Wingenfeld. At the same time, he made it clear that the municipalities needed quick help in financing hospitals so that hospitals in Hesse would not die out. In principle, the Association of German Cities welcomed the hospital reform announced by Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD), stressed Wingenfeld. This would particularly benefit municipal hospitals.
Concern about municipal clinics
Until the reform takes effect, however, the federal and state governments must provide money to prevent the hospitals from going bankrupt. “We are really struggling to ensure liquidity.”
Gerda Weigel-Greilich, Green City Councillor from Gießen and Second Vice President of the Association of German Cities, pointed out that in order to attract new skilled workers in childcare and in the health and care sector, municipalities urgently need the qualifications of foreign skilled workers to be recognised more quickly. There is a need for flexibility here, said Weigel-Greilich. (Hanning Voigts)
