Zug,04.05.2016

City announces plans to save CHF 7.5 million

The city council has announced it intends to cut costs in order to save CHF 7.5 million by 2019. As Karl Kobelt, the head of finance in the city, said, the burden is to be shared as broadly as possible by all the city’s denizens.
 
The idea behind the cutbacks is to ensure that the city’s finances break even in 2019 and remain in the black thereafter. The policy adopted has been one guided by the principal that prevention is better than cure.
 
All departments under the city’s jurisdiction will be affected to a greater or lesser degree, including its own administration office, where, from 2017 onwards, employees will no longer be able to benefit from so-called “Reka Checks”, which enable them to benefit from cheaper leisure time activities. This measure alone will save CHF 90,000. As an indication of the detail in which these cuts are being made, also from 2017 onwards, day trips out for retired former employees will only take place every four years rather than annually as at present, meaning savings of CHF 60,000. Cutbacks are also being made with regard to travel and expenses and even with regard to printing costs and the purchasing of new furniture and equipment. Maintenance costs will also be reduced, too, including those relating to IT.
 
Parents of children who have lunches as part of being cared for during non-school hours will have to pay a CHF 10-franc contribution from the 2017-18 school year onwards, and parents of children participating in school sports activities will be charged an annual CHF 90 fee, rather than the current CHF 60 one.
 
Increased car parking charges will also be introduced from 2018 onwards, a measure which is expected to bring in CHF 600,000 a year.
 
Taxpayers will be relieved to know that no increase in this area is expected; this would only be introduced as a last resort.