Budget for 2016 approved by a large majority
At its meeting on 2 March 2016, the City Council approved the budget of the City of Chemnitz for 2016 by a majority vote (47 in favour / 5 against / 2 abstentions).
With income of approx. 709.5 million euros and expenses of approx. 721.3 million euros, the annual deficit for the 2016 financial year is approx. 11.8 million euros.
Mayor Sven Schulze: "The challenge was to strike a balance between mandatory tasks and voluntary services. Even though the financial framework conditions are difficult, for example due to the decline in trade tax or the accommodation and care of asylum seekers, there were no significant cuts in other areas. On the contrary, services were expanded in some areas and, for example, 23 new jobs were created at the city's day care centres."
Investments in schools make a significant contribution to a sustainable and family-friendly city. Around 21.3 million euros will be invested here in 2016.
This includes measures such as the Borna primary school (€4.6 million), the Rosa-Luxemburg primary school (€0.9 million), the E.-G.Flemming primary school (2.3 million euros), Schönau secondary school (2016: 0.25 million euros, 2017: 0.8 million euros), the evening grammar school (1.2 million euros), the boarding school at the sports grammar school (3.8 million euros), the Ernst Busch speech therapy school (1.4 million euros) and the BSZ Technik III (1.9 million euros).
Construction work in daycare centres is planned for the facilities in Albert-Köhler-Str., Alfred-Neubert-Str., J.-Dick-Str., W.-Firl-Str., Sonnenstrasse, Max-Türpe-Str., Liddy-Ebersberger-Str. and the F.-Fritzsche-Str. daycare centre.
The Saxon Investment Strengthening Act came into force in December 2015. The first plans and projects for funding from the municipal package, which is fed by federal and state funds, have been included in the current planning. Federal funds totalling around 15.5 million euros and municipal own funds of around 5.2 million euros are to be used for additional renovation and new construction measures up to 2018. The focus here is on child daycare centres, schools and noise protection on roads.
The largest individual measures, which will be financed from federal and city funds, include the energy-efficient refurbishment of the Janusz Korczak School, the general refurbishment of the daycare centre in Walter-Ranft-Straße and the barrier-free expansion of the platform tunnel at the main railway station.
The city administration will submit a separate resolution proposal to the city council in May for the utilisation of the additional state funds. The vote on this is scheduled for the June meeting of the city council.