Financial hardship on the Bodden: Vorpommern-Greifswald in crisis mode!

Financial hardship on the Bodden: Vorpommern-Greifswald in crisis mode!

The financial situation in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district is currently causing an alarm mood. On Monday, the district council in Pasewalk decided on the supplementary budget for 2025, which has a negative balance of around 71 million euros in the financial budget. The topic moves the minds and shows itself in a drastic reduction in the circular levy from 48.5 to 42 percent, which was intensively discussed by the political groups. The CDU's proposal to reduce the levy to 42 percent received the greatest approval, but there are concerns about municipal financing, such as [Ostsee-zeitung.de] (https://www.

The district faces an enormous additional requirement of 30 million euros by the end of 2024, and there are also 81.8 million euros in deviations that still need to be discussed. "The situation is catastrophic," says the financial department Dietger Wille, who described the challenges as a "gigantic problem". For a whole twelve years, expenses in the youth area have risen four times - a fact that the municipalities also burdened. District Administrator Michael Sack emphasizes that the municipalities need "air to breathe" to manage their important tasks such as the financing of schools, school transport and local transport.

challenges and solutions

In recent years, the financial situation of German municipalities has deteriorated considerably. In 2023, the approximately 11,000 cities and municipalities recorded a financing deficit of seven billion euros. In 2022, the municipalities were able to achieve a surplus of 2.6 billion euros. This development is attributed in particular to the increase in social benefits, which rose to over 75 billion euros in 2023-a tendency that emerges and the Western Pomerania-Greifswald strikes. Also bundesag.de sees an ongoing burden for municipal households, since the forecasts for the coming years can be expected.

The mayor of Ueckermünde, Jürgen Kliewe, has also spoken out and demands more financial scope for the municipalities. He sees the need that not only local, but also state and federal political actors contribute to solving this problem. A consolidation strategy for 2026 and 2027 already adopted is intended to help create a balanced balance sheet in future budget approaches. Support from the state or federal government is required to cope with the current imbalance.

A look into the future

Many municipalities face similar challenges as Vorpommern-Greifswald. According to [reform compass.de] (https://www.reformkompass.de/de/fallstudien/haushalt consolidation), 37 percent of all municipalities in Germany have significant budget problems. It remains exciting to observe how the political actors will adapt to this crisis in the coming months and years. The district of Vorpommern-Greifswald now urgently has to struggle for solutions so that the basic financial pillars of local public services do not falter.