For many years, the municipalities in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania complained about insufficient funding. The country has recently made significant gains. Too strong, says the State Audit Office. But the local authority sees it differently.
Schwerin (dpa/mv) - The town and community day has rejected the recent criticism by the state audit office of the comparatively high state grants to the municipalities in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Municipal tax revenues have developed well. "Unfortunately, we still have just under 60 percent of the tax revenue per capita compared to the western states," emphasized the association's chairman, Wismar's mayor Thomas Beyer (SPD).
It is therefore logical that the state should give its municipalities special support from the special federal supplementary allocations. The aim remains the creation of equivalent living conditions throughout Germany. "It is therefore very surprising that the state audit office speaks of overcompensation in the presentation of the municipal finance report and again only uses individual items from the municipal budgets without apparently taking the entire municipal budget system into account," criticized Beyer. Despite the Corona crisis, the municipalities in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania closed the year 2021 with a surplus of 208 million euros. They were up for the seventh time in a row. The state audit office cites the increased trade tax revenue and the renewed increase in state subsidies as the main reasons in its municipal financial report. However, the main source for the municipal budgets remained the allocations from the state, which at almost 2.8 billion euros accounted for almost half of the adjusted income of the municipalities totaling 5.8 billion euros. According to the Court of Auditors, the state passes on the highest subsidies in Germany to the municipalities with 2052 euros per inhabitant, a third more than comparable non-city states in the west.
For years, many municipalities in the north-east could only have covered their current expenses with cash advances due to insufficient financial resources, explained Beyer. In order to balance out the old deficits, it is now necessary to report surpluses in current budgets. Beyer complained that urgently needed investments were being slowed down primarily by the bureaucracy in funding and awarding contracts, as well as a lack of construction capacity and supply bottlenecks. He also referred to sharply rising expenses for personnel, energy, interest and social benefits.
