According to the City Day, the days of unchecked saddle-up with standards, legal claims and government benefit commitments are over. There are also ideas on where to slim down.
Stuttgart (dpa/lsw) - Given the deficit of 1.9 billion euros, the Baden-Württemberg Association of Cities has urgently called for the dismantling of standards. "We have to reduce bureaucracy, we have to reduce standards, we need more flexibility," said executive board member Ralf Bross. The funds made available to the municipalities as part of the budget fell far short of covering their needs. "An amount of around 1.9 billion euros a year is currently missing for the statutory tasks of the municipalities," said Bross.
In November, the state and local authorities agreed on the distribution of the costs for refugees. The state is giving the municipalities 530 million euros for the accommodation and integration of refugees in 2023. 100 million euros are available as a starting point for financing all-day entitlements in primary school. "The Baden-Württemberg Association of Cities is not satisfied with the result because the funds do not cover the needs," said Bross.
All-day care will be a mandatory task for the municipalities from 2026, said Broß. "We have the big problem that we have a massive shortage of staff. Even if we have the premises for all-day care in schools, we cannot make any corresponding offers because the staff is not available."
It is about care keys and also about whether a specialist has to be used or whether more flexibility can be achieved with regard to the qualification of the staff. "When we talk about standard mining, we also have to say that everyone in their environment has to reckon with the fact that we sometimes have quality losses. Otherwise we can no longer finance our services of general interest."
One is therefore in discussion with Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) and the State Ministry and is looking for a suitable format. "There will be further concrete talks in the course of January. The State Ministry is currently in the process of exploring what such a format could look like," said Bross.
They will play with open cards and make it clear that acceleration must be achieved in many areas. For example, for processes in wind power and renewable energies. "We have to work with the state to see where it is possible and sensible to speed up procedures in terms of time. We expect a proposal from the State Ministry on how to proceed."
