City of Chemnitz budget adopted
Following an extensive debate, Chemnitz City Council approved the 2014 budget and financial planning up to 2017 on Wednesday evening. The amendments submitted and approved by the parliamentary groups will benefit the independent cultural scene, the book bus, school meals during the holidays, club sports facilities and school social work, among other things.
Despite all efforts, the budget with a volume of around 600 million euros (income: 585 million euros, expenditure: 603 million euros) is not quite balanced: The gap for 2014 is 6.3 million euros according to cameralised accounting - which is decisive for balancing the budget. For the 2015 financial year, it was possible to achieve a balanced budget according to cameral accounting and thus fulfil the requirement of the regional authorities.
"This budget resolution once again demanded a lot from the city council, as the balancing act between what was possible and what was desired was not easy," says Mayor Barbara Ludwig. "I would like to thank the city councillors for a committed debate and the struggle to prioritise the budget. The consolidation efforts of recent years have given us the opportunity to regain room for manoeuvre by balancing the budget in 2015. This requires us to stay on course and find the right balance between investment, sustainable management and savings."
Investments are essential for the further development of the city: As in previous years, the city will invest the majority of its construction budget in schools. More than 19 million euros will be spent on the special school building construction programme in 2014. This includes measures such as the Rabenstein primary school, the Gebrüder Grimm primary school and the Sonnenberg primary school. These investments are in line with the aim of creating a sustainable, competitive and family-friendly city.
In 2014, a total of 34.4 million euros is available for schools and 2.1 million euros for daycare centres. A total of 11.7 million euros has been earmarked for the continuation of the construction project at the school for the physically disabled and 2 million euros for the sports hall at Dr Wilhelm-André-Gymnasium. Significant construction measures at the daycare centres include the Alfred-Neubert-Straße 55/57 daycare centre (1 million euros), the Max-Müller-Straße 11/13 daycare centre (1 million euros) and the Kirchweg 8 daycare centre (0.4 million euros). In addition, 6.7 million euros have been earmarked for Zschopauer Strasse, 2.4 million euros for the municipal swimming pool and 2.4 million euros for the extension of the pedestrian tunnel at the main railway station.
In the area of running costs, around 263 million euros are planned for social services (2013: 262 million euros). In the area of culture, 25.8 million euros are planned for 2014 (2013: 24.6 million euros), excluding the annual subsidy for the theatre of around 26.1 million euros. A total of 19.7 million euros is budgeted for the area of sport (2013: 19.1 million euros).