Conclusion of the budget negotiations
Negotiations on the city’s financial budget have been concluded. The municipal council spent two days discussing the city budget and the motions submitted by the city council groups.
The city councillors of the Freie Wähler and FÜR Karlsruhe city council group Friedemann Kalmbach, Petra Lorenz and Jürgen Wenzel entered the negotiations with a clear goal: The city must prioritize its spending in order to combat the mountain of municipal debt. Savings must be made in the right places so that important investments for the future can still be afforded:
“You can only spend what you can earn or generate in the medium term. Or, what must apply to Karlsruhe in the future: Saving must no longer be a platitude! Our aim is to operate soundly. Our financial situation no longer allows for higher investments and thus even more debt,” said City Councillor Lorenz in her budget speech.
Following the conclusion of the budget negotiations, it must be noted that the majority of the municipal council does not share the goal of sound management: 200 million euros are to be borrowed and planned investments cannot be financed from the city’s income. In the end, the city will have a deficit of 36.7 million euros in 2024 and a deficit of 44.8 million euros in 2025.
“Although the budget consultations were negotiated objectively and constructively, which is not a matter of course due to the unpleasant topic situation, 200 million euros in new debt, which will have to be repaid at a high interest rate over the next few years, is not the start of a solid economic and financial situation,” said city councillor Jürgen Wenzel on the outcome of the budget consultations.
In the final vote, the city council group voted against the adoption of the 2023/24 double budget. The budget of the City of Karlsruhe will now be forwarded to the Regional Council of the State of Baden-Württemberg, where it must be approved.
