Kufstein: Mayor warns of saving in the budget 2025

Kufstein: Mayor warns of saving in the budget 2025

In the city of Kufstein, a difficult financial planning is emerging for the coming year. At a municipal assembly, Mayor Martin Krumschnabel announced that the city is expected to expect fewer income at the 2025 budget. Surprisingly, this is particularly against the background that Kufstein counts over 20,000 inhabitants for the first time. Nevertheless, the hoped -for increased financial support from the country is missing.

Over 60 citizens were in the culture of the district on November 19 to find out about the Situation of the municipal budget, which was also broadcast by livestream. "The country has revised the numbers," said Krumschnabel, pointing out that despite the increase in the population, no recognizable financial advantages can be expected. As if the situation was not challenging enough, the mayor indicated that the financial situation will not improve significantly.

budget 2025 and alarm signal

Kufstein is planning with a budget of 78.6 million euros for ongoing income and expenses. The new budget will be dealt with at the next meeting of the local council on December 11th. However, Krumschnabel made it clear that the forecasts for 2025 are by no means optimistic: "Unfortunately, our budget 2025 will not be significantly better than that from 2024, which is a large alarm signal." This means that the city has to make up for only 0.6 percent with an increase in revenue, which is not sufficient to compensate for inflation. At the same time, there are increasing expenses for various areas, for example for the district hospital.

As a challenge, it will therefore be necessary to operate with a narrow budget. The mayor pointed out that not only Kufstein was affected by these problems, but also other communities and the planned state budget.

cinema future uncertain

The future of the Kufstein cinema also came up. Krumschnabel was unable to announce any positive news, since the operators of the cinema, Cinema4you, are confronted with uncertainty that the property will soon have to be cleared for a new project. "We always tried to find a solution, but the construction costs are simply too high," emphasized the mayor. The possibility of a new building was considered too expensive. Cinema operator Alexander Wurzenrainer, who was also present, said that alternative locations in the city were considered, but the costs for a standard cinema would go beyond the financial framework.

A possible approach would be a cinema that is integrated into a shopping center in order to have several companies benefit from the films and share the financial load.

lack of nurses

Another urgent topic at the meeting was the lack of nurses in Kufstein. Mayor Krumschnabel stated that the city is increasingly relying on foreign nursing staff. At the end of November, two nurses will arrive from Colombia, with the aim of hiring ten to 15 more in the coming months. In order to offer these new forces a temporary home, the city has already acquired an apartment on Georg-Pirmoser-Straße.

The need for nurses in Kufstein is particularly high, and the city tries to proactively counteract this defect.

These developments make it clear that Kufstein will be confronted with major challenges in the coming years, be it financially or in the question of providing services such as health care. Further information and details on these topics can be found in a report by www.meinbezirk.at .