Tense financial situation for the city of Chemnitz
Press conference on budget planning 2025/2026 and financial planning until 2029
Today, Lord Mayor Sven Schulze and Finance Mayor Ralph Burghart presented the financial situation of the City of Chemnitz. In 2024, the budget of the City of Chemnitz is in a deficit of around 65.5 million euros. Although income amounts to around 975 million euros, this is offset by expenses totalling around 1 billion euros.
Many municipalities throughout Germany are affected by a deficit situation caused by multiple crises such as coronavirus, Russia's war against Ukraine, the associated energy crisis and the resulting inflation with huge increases in construction and consumer prices.
A budget consolidation concept must also be drawn up and approved by the City Council in order to secure the long-term performance of the City of Chemnitz and present an approvable budget in the coming years.
Lord Mayor Sven Schulze: "These challenges can only be overcome together with the City Council. We will be confronted with considerable additional burdens. A first step would be to recognise this reality together. We need to set new priorities and then agree on measures together. As the city administration, we will draw up proposals, which will ultimately be decided by the city council."
The City of Chemnitz's largest income comes from key allocations from the Free State. In 2024, this amounts to around 306 million euros for general and investment purposes. In addition, there are further federal and state grants totalling around 111 million euros.
Revenues from trade tax of around 150 million euros also play a decisive role. This shows that the economic basis in Chemnitz has developed well; in 2020, this amount was still at 95 million euros.
The largest expenditure items are costs for personnel and social services. The subsidy requirements for municipal companies, such as CVAG and the municipal theatre, are also rising into critical areas, even with the maintenance of existing facilities. Last but not least, the costs for the maintenance and management of buildings and roads in the city of Chemnitz are also rising sharply.
Mayor Ralph Burghart: "We need a common interpretation and view of what measures can be introduced to ensure the city's ability to perform and the statutory budget balance. Effective budget consolidation measures are required. There must be no taboos: All tasks - both voluntary tasks and mandatory tasks - must be put to the test and we must act now in order to be able to continue making our own decisions in the future."
As a first measure, the City of Chemnitz is offering the parliamentary groups a workshop on the topic of "budget consolidation" in September. This will be followed by the 2024/2025 budget and a budget financing concept that can be adopted - with the aim of passing a resolution in December.