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Leipzig is planning drastic savings: 27.5 million euros by 2027!
Leipzig plans to save €27.5 million over the next two years to secure budget approval.
Leipzig is planning drastic savings: 27.5 million euros by 2027!
The city of Leipzig plans to realize significant savings totaling 27.5 million euros over the next two years. This measure is necessary in order to obtain approval of the budget from the Free State of Saxony and to ensure the municipality's financial ability to act. Mayor Burkhard Jung described the current financial situation as the most difficult since the Second World War and in this context emphasized the need to make cuts.
Savings of around 7.5 million euros are planned for the 2025 financial year, while a reduction of around 20 million euros is planned for 2024. Particularly affected by the savings are the allocations to cultural institutions such as the opera, the theater and the Gewandhaus, which together will receive around 914,200 euros less. Savings of 1.4 million euros are also planned in the area of refugee accommodation and the waiver of additional positions in school social work, as Borkener Zeitung reports.
Budget security concept and increasing deficit
As part of a voluntary budget security concept, the city plans to save a total of 100 million euros by 2027. This step is necessary as a deficit of 61 million euros is expected, which is expected to continue to rise due to tariff increases and rising prices. Finance Mayor Torsten Bonew (CDU) emphasized that there are no concrete savings plans yet and that all city budgets could be affected by the savings. “There are no taboos,” says Bonew.
A central point of the savings plan will be staff cuts, with the aim of saving around 500 jobs by 2027. Personnel expenses represent a major cost factor, as do increased energy and material costs. In the last budget, these factors already led to higher expenditure, which led to unfilling of some positions and staff transfers. However, Bonew assured that no one should fear for their job and that there should be no layoffs, according to MDR.
In order to maintain the city's ability to shape itself, far-reaching changes in financial policy are necessary. The challenges facing Leipzig are significant, and the coming years will be crucial in securing the city's long-term financial stability.