Liva financial crisis: City of Linz intervenes - are the reforms now come?

Liva financial crisis: City of Linz intervenes - are the reforms now come?

Linz, Österreich - The Linz event company Liva is faced with a dramatic financial crisis after a turbulent year 2024. A current cash break, presented by the chairman of the supervisory board Meinhard Lukas, has revealed a frightening deficit of 1.68 million euros. This alarming message was recorded in a critical report, which shows the considerable defects in the areas of personnel and financial management. The mayor of Linz, Dietmar Prammer (SPÖ), has already assured his support, but relies on a strict implementation of reforms to stabilize the financial fortunes of the Liva, such as MeinDärzirk reported.

The main causes of massive minus include rising personnel costs, unexpected consulting expenses and a budget crossing at the sound cloud 2024. The double commissioning of law firms without clear goals and the insufficient cost control, as Lukas emphasizes. The problem of over 18,000 overtime, which has been accommodated since 2018 and have not been properly accounted for, also contributes to the critical situation. A corresponding reform of the internal structures and processes is considered urgently necessary to prevent further drifting into the red numbers.

Special subsidy for Liva decided

In order to keep the Liva capable of acting despite this precarious financial situation, the Linz city senate has decided to have a special subsidy of around 1.5 million euros. This measure is intended to ensure that Liva can continue to perform its tasks as a cultural impulse, as the Mayor Prammer's press release says. The city senate has also commissioned the LIVA management to carry out organizational optimizations. These impose necessary reforms in order to be able to work economically in the future.

The local council must now vote on the support, but the approval of the political competitors depends on the creation of complete transparency. The ÖVP and the Greens emphasize that they are only included in complete openness to the financial situation and the expenses made so far. The FPÖ is also approving, but calls for a clear future planning from the new management, which is to be presented in April in order to regain the trust of the population and to support the promotion of cultural institutions, according to the reports of vienna.at .