Mayor extends budget freeze into 2020

Lord Mayor Dr. Thomas Nitzsche has imposed a budget freeze of €4.5 million for the 2020 financial year. "The renewed budget freeze is necessary as tax revenue will be significantly lower this year, as it was in 2019," said the mayor, explaining the reason for this step.

Based on the tax estimate from November 2019, the expected annual deficit for 2020 will deteriorate by €5.7 million to €8.7 million. This is due in particular to a cyclical decline in tax income of EUR 4.6 million, which is expected to remain at a similar level in subsequent years. The optimistic financial scenario "2030-B" was still used as a basis for the city of Jena, but its occurrence is by no means certain.

In order to ensure the financial capacity to act in the second year of the 2019/20 double budget, the savings measures from 2019 will be continued in a slightly modified form. "We are blocking parts of the material cost budgets within the administration. In addition, fees for building rents and for the use of infrastructure for our own companies as well as personnel costs are to be saved," explains Head of Finance Benjamin Koppe. However, contributions would also have to be made in the area of voluntary services in 2020 to reduce the burden, so that 335,000 euros were included in the freeze.

Setting the freeze at a very early stage offers the opportunity to react to changes within the 2020 financial year. If the revenue situation improves due to higher tax assessments or additional state funding, the freeze can be lifted in full or in part - but in the opposite case, it can also be tightened.