Esslingen under pressure: 200 job cuts and budget freeze until 2025!

Esslingen under pressure: 200 job cuts and budget freeze until 2025!

The city of Esslingen is facing far-reaching cost-cutting measures that will have drastic effects on the administration. By 2030, the city plans to cut around 200 administrative jobs, which corresponds to around 10 percent of the total workforce of around 2,000 employees. This decision was necessary to counteract the difficulties in income from trade tax and increasing expenses, as Stuttgarter Nachrichten reports. About 60 jobs will be eliminated over the next two years, followed by another 125 jobs in 2028 and 2029.

In order to reduce these personnel costs by a total of 4.4 million euros, which corresponds to around six percent of total personnel expenses, a mixture of savings in personnel and material costs is being used. The latter should decrease by a further 4.6 million euros, with the overall goal of achieving savings of 11.3 million euros by 2030.

Budget freeze in response to falling revenues

Mayor Matthias Klopfer has also imposed a budget freeze until the end of the year, underscoring the city's financial challenges. The drastic decline in trade tax revenue is the main reason for this measure. According to My Stuttgart, trade tax revenue is expected to fall from 94.7 million euros to just 76.6 million euros, which means a loss of 18.1 million euros. Advance trade tax payments for 2025 show a decrease of 12.3 million euros.

The budget freeze is intended to ensure that only essential expenses are covered and non-essential expenses are frozen until further notice. Legal liabilities and ongoing investment projects, including the redesign of the Esslingen market square and work on the Pliensau Bridge, are exempt from the ban.

The impact on citizens

Although the administration is aiming for savings, certain services for citizens may be affected. Restrictions could affect so-called “nice-to-haves”, such as tighter bus frequencies and free bus transfers on event days. The city plans to minimize the impact on citizens through the use of artificial intelligence and digitalization.

It is also emphasized that trained specialists and positions that are at least 75 percent financed by third parties are excluded from the savings. In view of the current financial situation, the discussion about a fifth mayoral position has also been discontinued. There have been five budget freezes in the past seven years, but the current situation is still considered manageable.

The city of Esslingen is facing major challenges in budget consolidation, which began in 2020. The future remains uncertain, but the city administration is pursuing a clear austerity course in order to improve the financial conditions and stabilize the budget in the long term.