Finances
Survey: municipalities want to save more due to the corona crisis
In view of the Corona crisis, according to a survey, numerous municipalities want to save more and secure additional sources of income. Photo: Patrick Pleul / dpa-Zentralbild / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The corona crisis is tearing holes in the coffers of cities and municipalities. According to a survey, budget deficits are the result in many places. The austerity course can affect citizens and companies.
In view of the Corona crisis, according to a survey, numerous municipalities want to save more and secure additional sources of income.
The proportion of cities and municipalities that wanted to increase taxes and duties rose by six points to 70 percent compared to the previous year. The Stuttgart-based consulting firm Ernst & Young (EY) reported on Tuesday, citing its own representative survey of over 300 municipalities in Germany with at least 20,000 inhabitants.
In two out of five municipalities surveyed, water supply and garbage disposal could become more expensive, as EY further announced. Property tax could rise in just under a third of cities and municipalities (32 percent). At 29 percent, the trade tax screw could be turned.
The local swimming pool is most often on savings lists in town halls, it said. According to this, 16 percent of the cities and municipalities surveyed are planning to close a pool or to operate it only to a limited extent. In 13 percent of the municipalities, it could get darker because of the austerity measures in street lighting.
The municipalities complain about the pandemic and its economic consequences lost income. Regardless of the support from the federal and state governments, the budget situation is “very tight,” the study says. Mattias Schneider, head of EY’s Government & Public Sector in Germany, said that even in a good economic situation, debts were only slowly reduced. “The current crisis shows that the financial resources of the German municipalities are anything but sustainable – and that the gap between poor and rich municipalities is widening,” said the expert.