Bremen in saving mode: Fast renovation against high debt load!

Bremen in saving mode: Fast renovation against high debt load!

in Bremen it gets serious: The stability council has found an impending budgetary emergency. In view of a debt burden of almost 24 billion euros per capita, the city must now act decisively to be able to renovate the household. taz.de reports that Bremen not only has very few residents, but also the smallest area among the federal states, which only tightens the challenge.

In order to bring the financial cart back onto the street, the Senate has launched a legally mandatory renovation program. From 2025 to the end of 2027, the renovation is to be carried out, with the ambitious goal of achieving a “black zero” during financing balance and net credit recording during this time. The budget for 2025 is planned without explanation of an emergency, reports the press office of the Senate under the link Senatspressenelle.bremen.de .

concrete savings measures

Finance senator Björn Fecker (Greens) has already set up a strict catalog of measures to save around 254 million euros by 2027. By the end of 2024, 100 million euros were originally planned. The desired budget discipline is described as "new normal", which will require a lot from the Bremern. Possible points for reducing costs and increasing the income are:

• increase in real estate transfer tax
• Introduction of a tourism tax (City-Tax)
• Increase in administrative and parking fees
• cost increases for lunch in daycare centers and primary schools
• Adjustments in the lease interest in the port
• increase in casino levy
• Costs for students in the form of administrative fees
• Ticket price increases for the Bremen tram

In addition, there will be a reduction rate of 1.45 percent annually at the staff, so that personnel expenses are also tackled. In addition, the area needs of public administration are to be reduced by 20 percent, which is intended to boost the savings again.

social and health challenges

Special attention is also paid to the social expenditure that is one of the largest budget items. The city is planning cost -dusting adjustments, among other things, youth welfare for young refugees is not continued after reaching the age of majority. This could have a significant impact on the people concerned, while details on future handling in the field of health and social affairs remain unclear. Beoherden-Spiegel emphasizes that Prime Minister Andreas Bovenschulte has the need for these measures due to past economic challenges.

The way to stabilize households is rocky, but it remains to be seen how well Bremen can implement the measures mentioned. The next renovation report to the Stability Council is due at the end of the year, and the Bremen city government must decide to achieve specific measures until then in order to achieve the goals set. The coming years will be a real sample for the smallest city state in Germany.