Lübeck's finances in chaos: alert deficits and budget lock!

Lübeck's finances in chaos: alert deficits and budget lock!

The Hanseatic city of Lübeck faces a financial challenge that has reached a low in the last few years of its budget. As the Lübeck messages report, the city managers decided to block budgets for 2024, after you could benefit from considerable surpluses beforehand. A deficit of 99.5 million euros will be predicted for the coming year, which must be supplemented by a number of measures in order to be able to carry out important infrastructural projects. Fortunately, the income from trade tax is better than expected, which means that the deficit for 2024 was reduced to "only" 19.5 million euros. Also ten million euros higher allocations of the Germany ticket for local public transport flow into the city's coffers.

planned expenses and savings

Despite the tense financial situation, it is stated that 21 million euros are planned for the renovation and construction of roads as well as walking and bike paths. In addition, 14.5 million euros are to be invested in school projects, while at the same time the costs for legal obligations, in particular youth welfare, are increasing. These necessary expenses exceed the 55 million euros in 2025.

On the other hand, numerous planned projects are pushed to the long bank, including the renewal of the Travemünde Allee and a number of necessary places in the municipal security service. An example of savings is the deletion of the planned St. Lorenz district park, which was postponed to 2026 due to the financial pressure. The increase in property taxes and fees for road cleaning and winter service by more than 30 percent will also be part of the city's new financial reality, as reports from the Lübeck messages.