Lord Mayor Frank Mentrup and First Mayor Gabriele Luczak-Schwarz presented the new budget for 2024/25 on July 25. The double budget presented is completely overshadowed by the overwhelming debt, which has risen particularly since 2020 and will amount to one billion euros in 2025 and 1.5 billion euros in 2028.
While the Lord Mayor spoke about the city’s overall picture in his budget speech, Luczak-Schwarz, whose department is responsible for finance and the economy, made a clear exclamation mark: “Provided all investments are implemented, our loan liabilities are expected to grow from 614.7 million euros at the end of 2023 to 871.7 million euros at the end of 2024 and to over 1 billion euros at the end of 2025. This pushes the city to the very limits of what it can achieve.”
The city council group Freie Wähler and FÜR Karlsruhe have been critical of the development of Karlsruhe’s finances for years. The city council groups already voted against the city’s plans when the last double budget was passed.
“The financial development is disastrous,” says city councillor Petra Lorenz from the Free Voters, “it is indicative of the work of the city administration that the city’s credit liabilities will triple in the next 5 years. For years now, the regional council has been threatening to withdraw the budget, and now it could become a reality.”
The city council group of Freie Wähler and FÜR Karlsruhe sees its task in the budget negotiations as calling for fiscal common sense and introducing concrete ideas to improve Karlsruhe’s overall economic situation.
