Special energy compensation for municipalities – salzburg.ORF.at
politics
The wave of inflation also affects Salzburg’s communities. Energy costs are exploding, personnel costs will increase by six to seven percent next year. The state is now making an additional ten million euros available – as cost-of-living compensation. The money comes from the community equalization fund and was reserved for emergencies.
Every municipality in Salzburg will receive between 7,000 and 500,000 euros from this special subsidy – the only exception is the provincial capital. However, the payment of the money is linked to clear expectations, according to Governor Wilfried Haslauer (ÖVP). “I can already imagine that there will be no increase in fees – but that is an autonomous decision by the municipality. We have to do everything we can to curb inflation as well.”
In St. Johann im Pongau, Mayor Günther Mitterer (ÖVP) also wants to do this – a special subsidy is just right in view of the current price increases. “Of course we will see that we can defecate the citizens with the fees, but of course we also have inflation ourselves that we can cushion with it.”
State parliament for special energy compensation communities
The state is now making an additional ten million euros available – as cost-of-living compensation. The money comes from the community equalization fund and was reserved for emergencies.
Switch off Christmas lights, “minimum savings”
St. Johann is an e5 municipality, which also means that a lot of energy has already been saved in the course of this climate protection project. Now they are considering no longer operating the ice rink in winter: “Basically, we can no longer make the big leaps, but only switch off selectively where we have savings potential – because we are an e5 community and have been implementing energy-saving measures for a long time.” Considerations , switch off the Christmas lights, Mitterer can’t really get anything out of it, that would do practically nothing. “For us it would be very minimal because we have been on LED lighting for a long time, it would be a small thing for us.”
Money is to be paid out in early 2023
The money should be paid out to the communities quickly. The plan is for early 2023 so that the respective sums can also be included in the budget.