Billion-euro deficit: City budgets are "collapsing right now"

Municipalities with a list of demands

In concrete terms, the Association of Cities is making a whole series of proposals to give itself more financial breathing space:

• The federal and state governments should transfer a larger share of sales tax directly to the municipalities.
• According to the association, the personal contribution to care should be capped - which would relieve the burden on care home residents and local authorities, but would shift the costs to care insurance or other budgets.
• The administration of services such as vehicle registration and the payment of parental allowance, housing benefit or student grants should be standardized and centralized - the local authorities hope that this will allow them to deploy staff differently and save money. According to Schuchardt, there is no nationwide estimate of how much relief this would bring.
• In principle, bureaucracy should be reduced and procedures digitized - leaner procedures and random checks instead of verification requirements are the keywords.

Relief in the accommodation of refugees

Migration and the accommodation of refugees - a major issue for local authorities in recent years - were not the main focus this time. The number of new arrivals is falling, said Jung. Specifically, he had been able to dismantle three tent cities in Leipzig. "That is a great help." Tasks such as integration, daycare provision, language courses and psychosocial support remain, he emphasized. This is also underfunded.

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