For municipalities

Heated debate about 25 million as a financial injection

Governor Hans Peter Doskozil's (SPÖ) plan to increase the tax authorities' needs-based allocations from €45 million to €70 million is causing a stir. 

The financial injection from the state is to be made available to the municipalities for infrastructure projects such as school buildings and the payment of loans. The enthusiasm from the ranks of the opposition is, of course, limited.

"A drop in the ocean"
Just a few days ago, the provincial governor had announced a "special funding package of historic proportions", according to ÖVP parliamentary group chairman Markus Ulram. It has turned out to be a drop in the ocean.

"The red municipal package comes too late, the funds are too little and the requirements are too narrowly defined from today's perspective," says Ulram. FPÖ state chairman Alexander Petschnig, on the other hand, speaks of a "prank" and denounces the introduction of the minimum wage as part of a municipal debt spiral.

Criticism of west-east divide
"We have been waiting for years for real support for the municipalities from the Turquoise-Greens, but the federal government is sitting on its hands," countered Doskozil's deputy Astrid Eisenkopf (SPÖ). She criticizes the west-east divide in the distribution of municipal funds. In Vorarlberg, each citizen receives €11.40, in Burgenland only €8.50.