Debt brake – state savings package “at the limits of what is possible”

Until now, the state budget has always been a question for a year. And so at Christmas the finances for the next twelve months were divided, briefly discussed and then decided. This time the coalition wanted to break this principle in order to plan – and save – for the longer term. And to challenge all departments and departments at the same time, the general target of minus nine percent was set.

“From 2000 to 2012, we had a phase in Carinthia in which public debts were built up significantly,” says financial officer and deputy governor Gaby Schaunig (SPÖ). “From 2013 to 2022, debt accumulation slowed.” What followed was a pandemic, an economic crisis and a bad mood; a mixed situation made worse by lower incomes and negotiations over the distribution of money in the state of Austria that did not go as planned.

“If we had continued in the usual way, i.e. budgeted from year to year, things would not have gone well,” says Schaunig. So the plan with the savings. “We have never experienced anything like this before,” says state parliament member Markus Malle, ÖVP negotiator: “The current budget is a joint effort by all speakers.” Schaunig: “An intensive process, we did not make it easy for ourselves and looked at everything. Also all financing and major projects, for example. Really every position.”

The ‘Four-year plan’ should save one billion euros
The result is a kind of ‘four-year plan’ that should achieve a ‘balance sheet improvement’ of one billion euros. It is calculated as follows: if we had continued austerity and continued as before, the current debt level of 4.4 billion would have risen to over five billion in the coming year, and even to almost seven billion by the end of this government’s term. . With the savings package, this ‘only’ rises to a calculated 5.7 billion. So far, as complicated as it is ambitious.

Has the required nine percent been achieved? “That was a hypothetical approach. “But we didn’t run over it with the lawn mower,” explains State Vice President Martin Gruber (ÖVP). Because communities even need to be relieved; a matter close to the heart of SP negotiator Andreas Scherwitzl, who, in addition to his role as third President of the State Parliament, is also mayor of the municipality of Magdalensberg.

• For large projects such as the B100, the Drautalstrasse. We will “look at it again”.
• With the staff. The motto is ‘minus one percent per year’. This should happen with redeployments and ‘natural departures’, i.e. retirements. Because in the coming years, 1,000 of the current 3,800 state employees will reach retirement age. So there will be a replacement, but not in every place.
• The renovation the government building will be moved.
• It’s coming to Merge departments in the state government and in the state-owned enterprises.
• With the “Regional Healthcare Structure Plan”that should be ready next year, savings will also be made there. For example, when it comes to supply; with more assisted living, nursing home places also for short-term care, thus freeing up expensive hospital beds. And there’s more that won’t be announced until next year.
• With changes in financing. The recently discussed reduction in subsidies for photovoltaic energy is described as “very smart” because it should primarily be about self-sufficiency with electricity and not about a private business model.
• But also supposed small things for Additional payments The number of courses that are actually mandatory today is being reduced.

“What we do not do,” say all those involved, “is clear-cutting the places where damage has been caused. For example, if a one euro subsidy triggers additional funding from the state and the EU, that would be the case. Or that streets would fall into complete disrepair if they were not renovated. Or when it comes to necessary projects such as the ‘fifth finger of the hospital’.

“No community is in danger of going bankrupt”
Further improvements – because we are not currently in a position to reduce debt but must continue to raise money – can only be achieved through new negotiations with the federal government on revenue sharing. Moreover, partial success in this area will reduce the burden on communities. Scherwitzl speaks of 22.5 million euros and also explains that “no municipality is insolvent”. And that it will remain that way.

In short: the financial situation is serious and will remain serious. And only the details of the ‘four-year plan’ will reveal whether at least the goals now set will be achievable.

What happens next? With discussions with those involved, then a government meeting on November 12, the annual budget review in the Carinthian state parliament on November 14 and finally, after a series of political discussions, the decision-making during the Christmas period from December 18 to 20.