Municipalities in North Rhine -Westphalia: Record debt due to rising social spending!
Municipalities in North Rhine -Westphalia: Record debt due to rising social spending!
In the past few months, the social spending of the German municipalities has increased noticeably, which is a serious financial challenge for many cities and municipalities. North Rhine-Westphalia in particular recorded an alarming increase: the costs rose by around 75 euros per inhabitant compared to the previous year. While other federal states are also affected with an increase of 36 to 70 euros, a remarkable increase of over twelve percent is determined. This emerges from the cash statistics of the Federal Statistical Office.
The reasons for this increase are complex. The areas of education and participation, youth welfare and integration aids are particularly affected. These services are essential tasks that the municipalities fulfill for the federal and state governments, but they do not receive the full costs. Christoph Gerbersmann and Martin Murrack, spokesman for the "for the dignity of our cities", warn that this increase is particularly difficult for financial municipalities, since there are many social benefits above average.
financial consequences for the municipalities
The conflicts about the increasing social expenditure inevitably lead to the municipalities to increasingly have to accept liquidity loans in order to meet their financial obligations. In the first half of 2024, these loans added up to around 2.4 billion euros. Without the positive impact of a submissive program in Rhineland-Palatinate, which the debts could reduce by almost one billion euros, the sum would be even higher: 3.34 billion euros. NRW alone stands for 1.7 billion euros of these loans, which increases the total sum of liquidity loans in Germany to around 33 billion euros.
This situation illustrates that the municipalities have to go into increasing debt in order to fulfill tasks that have been transferred to them by the federal and state governments. It is tragic that the lack of financial resources are hindered many important investments in local infrastructures such as roads, local public transport, day care centers and schools as well as digital and climate -friendly projects. This financial misery means that the trust of the population is disappearing into the ability of the municipalities to act.
claims to remedy the problems
In addition, the alliance calls for fair financial resources from the municipalities. The cities and municipalities should be able not to fault for the fulfillment of delegated tasks. A fair distribution of the financial resources between the federal, state and municipalities is crucial to create a solid and sustainable financial basis again.
In the middle of these challenges, 71 municipalities from eight federal states have come together in the "for the dignity of our cities" in the campaign alliance to fight together for their concerns. The members represent around nine million citizens who are all affected by the effects of these financial difficulties. In this context, the actions of the federal and state governments are crucial to solve the problems of the municipalities sustainably and to secure their future prospects.
For further information and a detailed analysis on this topic, see the report on localklick.eu .
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