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Presscouncil City of Chemnitz
Pressrelease: 212

Together through the pandemic - the city's first million-euro aid package for social, cultural and sports programmes

The Lord Mayor and the Mayors are proposing an initial package of measures to the City Council to mitigate the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, particularly in areas where the administration and City Council bear direct responsibility. In many of the city's support projects, federal and state programmes are to be supported, flanked or supplemented

"The aim of this submission is to highlight the initial consequences of the global coronavirus pandemic for our city. The focus is on the areas of life for which the city council and city administration bear direct responsibility," says Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig. "Even if it is not yet possible to calculate the exact impact in many areas, decisions must be made now to enable rapid assistance."


This submission to the City Council focuses on support services for clubs, associations and institutions in the areas of social welfare, youth welfare, health, sport and culture. The aid is intended to enable them to continue their work under changed conditions and to maintain their services.


In concrete terms, this means for the individual areas:


Social affairs: Partnership and the ability to act through the crisis - helping people - securing the future


The Free State of Saxony has created a protective shield for clubs, associations and other institutions in the areas of social affairs, culture and sport as well as the environment and agriculture. This option is also available in Chemnitz. There is also further municipal support:

  • Access to the basic security systems is temporarily facilitated. These measures demonstrate the possibilities and reliability of the welfare state and strengthen low-income families in particular. Groups of people such as the solo self-employed will also be able to come under this protective umbrella under simplified conditions until they can resume their original activity in full. In other words, this is not about stigmatisation, but about temporary support from the welfare state for groups that do not benefit from other crisis-related federal or state support programmes. The city is initially planning for additional costs of around three million euros.

  • In the areas of family and youth welfare, social services and socio-medical counselling services, support will be provided to maintain all services as follows:
  1. All service agreements, contracts, framework agreements for the financing of daycare centre operations and grant notifications will continue to apply until further notice.
  2. Funding will be provided by the specialist departments of Chemnitz City Council from the above-mentioned regulations in the same form and amount. Independent providers who run daycare centres in our city will temporarily receive an additional monthly payment to compensate for the parental contributions not collected.
  3. This applies to all funding/subsidies/financing in accordance with the joint specialist funding guidelines for youth, social affairs and health (in accordance with FRL-JSG), for daycare centres in accordance with SächsKitaG and for service and remuneration agreements/fee agreements in accordance with Sections 77 ff. of SGB VIII, 75 SGB XII; 125 SGB IX.
  4. Service providers of educational assistance with outpatient services, including individual case assistance, who may only provide their services in unavoidable individual cases in accordance with the general decree of the Saxon State Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Cohesion dated 19 March 2020 (ref.: 42-6928-20), also receive payments in the amount of the average of the last 12 months (if necessary, a reduced amount may be paid after an individual case decision). a shorter period can be used as a basis following a decision on a case-by-case basis) The prerequisite for this is that the organisations have concluded a fee agreement with us and Chemnitz is responsible for the cases in terms of subject matter and location.
  • The subsidisation in all areas of social work remains unchanged in terms of form and amount. In return, the League of Welfare Associations will make every effort to realise the services in a modified form despite numerous restrictions. For example, staff resources that become available will be used in areas with corona-related support needs at the organisation itself or other organisations (e.g. in care homes).


This means that benefits totalling 91.8 million euros will continue to be paid out unchanged.


Sport: Association (t) against the crisis


The city continues to pay subsidies to clubs for construction measures, operating costs and personnel costs totalling around 4.5 million euros. At the same time, the city is waiving rents, leases and ground rents for the clubs in the city sports association, initially for the months of March to June, totalling around 92,000 euros.

Culture: Giving culture more space - working in partnership through the crisis


The city is also committed to supporting the bid to become European Capital of Culture 2025 in such a way that the temporary loss of culture does not result in irreparable damage and a clear-cutting of the cultural landscape. Taking into account the federal and state packages of measures, the city's cultural funding totalling 2.8 million euros will be continued with a generous interpretation of service provision. There are also plans to launch a special programme for artists.

Finances


The proposal to be voted on by the City Council at its meeting on 29 April was presented on Friday. This initial support package totalling over 8.6 million euros could be followed by further measures once the consequences of the pandemic can be better assessed.


An interim assessment will be made at the city council meeting in July 2020 and further decisions will be taken. The specific effects and possibilities of the federal and state aid packages, in particular the Saxony Stabilisation Fund, will then have to be considered in more detail.


The city is already expecting a considerable loss of revenue that cannot be influenced, for example from trade or sales and income taxes. According to the forecasts of the Saxon Association of Towns and Municipalities, a decline of up to 50 per cent is expected. A drop of up to 50 per cent would mean a shortfall in revenue of almost 85 million euros for the municipal budget.