The municipality of Son and Breugel is facing a budget deficit of €750,000 for 2025. The primary cause is a reduction in funding from The Hague for local authorities. Furthermore, the municipality anticipates rising costs in areas such as youth care and the maintenance of public spaces and buildings in the coming years.
Without these challenges, the budget for 2025 would have been balanced, according to Councillor Jan Boersma (Finance). “In addition to the one-off cut to the municipal fund, our income is lagging behind the expenditures that we, as a municipality, face. Therefore, we are critically assessing the costs of our current responsibilities and must be cautious about taking on new ones.”
His colleague Steven Grevink, alderman for social affairs, adds: ‘An important point of attention is that we continue to ensure a strong (financial) safety net for residents who need it. However, we also have to deal with a growing demand for care and – at the same time – a shortage of money and employees. That is also why we seek cooperation with sports clubs, music associations and scouting groups. They may be able to support us.’
Basis
‘A healthy financial position is an important basis for responding to future developments and wishes of our community,’ Boersma said. ‘To maintain a healthy financial budget for 2025 and beyond, it is therefore necessary to take measures and, with that, make difficult choices. Unfortunately, this includes the need to also increase property tax (ozb).’
Those local housing taxes will rise by over 9 percent. The waste collection levy is going up by over two percent. This means a single-person household will soon pay 272.88 euros per year, while the rate for multi-person households will rise to 342.12 euros. Sewerage charges will also be higher next year. Boersma: ‘There is simply no way to avoid passing on some of the burden to our residents.’
Homes
Boersma and Grevink emphasise that Son en Breugel still faces some ‘considerable challenges’. ‘For instance, we want to build some nine hundred more homes until 2040, we want to continue developing the centre and drawing up a traffic and transport plan, and our business sites need to be future-proofed.’
Source: Studio040
For Eindhoven News: Chaitali Sengupta
