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The draft for the double budget 2021/22 is currently being discussed by the bodies. It was actually the aim of the administration to have the city council approve the paper in October. Ultimately, however, there was still a need for discussion in various committees. Therefore, the original plan could not be kept. Now it is as it is – and all parliamentary groups as well as the individual city representatives are making the best of the situation. They continue to deal with the paper, evaluate the basic situation, the developments and the suggestions from their respective point of view and develop ideas for changes.
Today: Counting community “Molter / Gajek / Steinmüller”
But where is the city financially? What can, what want and what must we be able to afford in the future? And after many years of intensive budget consolidation, where is there still potential for savings? Our editorial team asked local politics and the finance department and mayor these questions as well. We want to present their answers in a small series over the next two weeks. Today: Martin Molter for the counting community that he forms with Lothar Gajek and Heiko Steinmüller.
How do you assess the financial situation of the city of Schwerin?
Nobody has to guess. The 2019 annual financial statements are publicly available to everyone – if you know where. [Zwinkersmiley]. The sum of cash and cash equivalents and cash advances as of December 31 of the budget year was € -151,018,506.45. But these are only liabilities. On the other account there is a good plus of 2.8 million euros.
What initiatives do you want to initiate so that the financial situation improves?
The ECB provides the solution with its low interest rate policy and Dr. Badenschier takes it up: The search is on for loan sharks who are most likely to give the ECB money, in the best case even with minus interest so that they can still earn money with borrowing. The city would not be liquid and would not be able to pay off its debts if it hadn’t had an economic crisis and with it these low interest rates. That’s working. But it can backfire as soon as the ECB raises the key interest rate and the city of Schwerin can no longer take 0% loans. It is about ultra-short-term loans with terms of one day, one week that are used to keep the city liquid.
The only criticism is maybe there is no alternative. We have to take cheap money, there are in fact no other options. It is not thanks to Dr. Rico Badenschier, that the city is potentially debt free ????. If he rides the 0% interest rate wave, it is more to the credit of the ECB. But we’re lucky to have an OB who noticed that.
What will and what will the city still be able to afford in the future?
Counter-question: What does a city threatened with extinction have to afford? Youth and Culture!
Where do you see potential for savings?
You can blow up the television tower, for example. Every Dreesch resident gets a Netflix account for this. That costs about 140,000 euros and we have saved 400.00 euros. But these are not really times to save. Spend money thanks to the zero interest policy. You can do something great for the future – our youth – again. The last youth theater festival, for example, took place here in Schwerin at the end of the 1980s. The city needs to invest more in its future. There is no company that heals itself by saving itself up.
What should politics and administration have done differently in the past?
I can’t answer, I haven’t dealt with politics in the past. Perhaps you could ask Frau Gramkow that. In any case, we will now create a bright future together.
Thanks to Martin Molter, who forms a counting community together with Lothar Gajek and Heiko Steinmüller in the Schwerin city council, for the detailed discussion of our questions and their answers.
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