The new Eindhoven city council will start work soon. It can begin with aardig wat vet op de botten, as they say in Dutch (“a bit of fat on its bones”). Last year, the city closed on a positive note with almost 33 million euros in its kitty.
It is apparent from the annual accounts for 2021. The current team of mayor and aldermen puts the extra money in a municipal piggy bank. It is up to new colleagues to decide what to do with the money. “We offer our successors a good starting position with a financially healthy municipality,” said Alderman for Finance Marcel Oosterveer.
Windfalls
There are several reasons for the significant money left over the past year. The city council was able to live up to the bargain now, after many years of enormous shortages. So more attention was paid to the little ones. There were also several windfalls last year. For example, Eindhoven received more money from The Hague via the municipal fund. Also, an extra budget came in for the reform of youth care and the interest rate was favourable. Furthermore, the number of benefits decreased. This saved the municipality money.
Corona pandemic
Four times in a row, the city closed with a positive result. In the past year, the extra money was spent on institutions affected by the corona pandemic, among other things. Community centres, sports clubs and cultural organizations were also helped. According to the city government, the support packages and the resilience of the regional economy have saved many jobs.
New coalition
So it is up to a new city council what to do with the tens of millions of euros. For example, an additional investment could be made in many areas. A coalition of GroenLinks, D66, CDA and PvdA is currently being prepared. The four parties are well advanced in negotiations and will soon present a coalition agreement.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Shanthi Ramani
