In the end you always get the bill. This is also the case in Vienna after the first double budget in the city’s history. And what will the annual accounts for 2023 look like? Slightly less debt than expected and higher investments in the location. A big financial chunk is housing bonuses etc.
The boring title of the financial statement actually hides the city’s exact accounting, in which every cent of expenditure is precisely stated. Finance Councilor Peter Hanke (SPÖ) presented the figures on Thursday, which certainly contain surprises. First the good news: Vienna’s new debt in 2023 was not as high as budgeted. But within a manageable framework: 1.3 billion euros in new debt – instead of 1.4 billion euros. With higher investments in location, infrastructure and economy. Vienna spent no less than 3.3 billion euros.
The largest expenditure items are: health care, social services, education and childcare. Vienna invested 10 billion euros here last year. Hanke: “That is 50 percent of the entire budget. In concrete terms, 3.4 billion euros went to social affairs, 2.9 billion to health care, 2.3 billion to education and the city of Vienna spent 1.1 billion euros on childcare.
From Wohnbonus to Wien Energie
Someone also has to pay for the city’s many anti-inflation measures. The calculation shows that 860 million euros went to housing bonuses, energy bonuses, housing subsidies and other measures. How: “Wien Energie implemented two major price reductions, worth 460 million euros. One in the summer of 2023 with 340 million for electricity, gas and district heating and a second for district heating in the following autumn with 120 million,” Hanke continues.
In any case, the city considers the closure of the accounts a success. “Almost all the ambitious goals that Councilor Hanke set for himself at the time have been achieved,” it says. According to our own findings, this would be: a gross regional product of 111 billion euros (the target was 110 billion), an additional saving of 40,000 tons of CO² (it was 85,000 tons), the creation of 40,000 jobs, more international settlements than expected. Only: “The unemployment rate of below 10 percent was only reached temporarily and has now risen again.”
What else is Vienna proud of? Hanke: “Around 35 million euros have been invested in the expansion of cycle paths, more than 50 projects have been carried out and 20 kilometers of new cycle paths have been constructed in the main transport network.”
The city looks relaxed at the new debts. The finances are said to be ‘solid’. Vienna’s debt per capita is 5,500 euros, which puts us in the middle compared to other states (top: Carinthia, best: Tyrol). Amount of Vienna’s total debt: 10.2 billion euros.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
