Financial distress of the municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia and throughout Germany
Quick Look
- Only seven of almost four hundred municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia can cover their expenses with their own income.
- Most communities live on credit, which is a failure of the state and federal governments.
- The special fund is only a drop in the ocean, while mandatory tasks such as daycare centers, schools, infrastructure and integration remain underfunded.
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Why It Matters
The municipalities must be adequately equipped to carry out tasks that they largely do not undertake themselves. In North Rhine-Westphalia, only seven of almost four hundred municipalities can cover their expenses with income.
Only seven of the almost four hundred municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia can now cover their expenses with their income. The rest moves in a sphere that can no longer be called constitutional. The following applies to municipalities: They must be adequately equipped for the tasks that they largely do not undertake themselves.
What is spreading in North Rhine-Westphalia has also become everyday life in the rest of the republic: the municipalities live on credit. This is actually a failure on the part of the states, which should take care of their communities. But it is also a failure of the federal governments, which decided in Berlin what the municipalities have to pay for.
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The need is much greater
That's why there is a special fund. But the need is much greater. What reaches the communities from there is just a drop in the ocean. The money evaporates there because Germany, or rather: the federal and state governments, lived beyond their means.
This will be seen in most cities and communities in the next few years: in daycare centers and schools, on bridges and roads, in power grids and nursing homes, in the integration of foreigners, in all-day care, in climate protection and in general in the infrastructure. These are all mandatory tasks for municipalities. Not to mention the voluntary services.
Open Questions
- How high is the exact deficit of the municipal budgets in North Rhine-Westphalia?
- What specific measures are the federal and state governments planning to relieve the burden on municipalities?
- How exactly will the special assets be distributed and used?
