The agreement in the collective bargaining dispute for the public sector means significantly more wages for thousands of Potsdamers – but also additional burdens for the city budget. For the double budget 2023/2024 alone, which is currently being discussed, the town hall expects an additional burden of about seven million euros. Mayor Mike Schubert (SPD) named this sum on Sunday when asked by PNN. In addition, millions of additional costs are to be expected for the clinic, which pays according to the public service tariff system.
After another tough round of negotiations in Potsdam late on Saturday evening, the federal government, local authorities and trade unions agreed on the largest wage increase in decades for around 2.5 million public sector employees. The background is the increased cost of living due to inflation and the energy crisis. Among other things, the agreement provides for tax and duty-free special payments totaling 3,000 euros in several stages. More than 2700 employees currently work in the Potsdam City Hall, in the clinic there are also more than 2000 employees.
With the estimated additional costs from the collective bargaining agreement, the current debate about the Potsdam budget is becoming more difficult – especially since more million holes threatened because of the accommodation of refugees. In addition, city politicians have already announced costly extra requests and positioned themselves against cuts.
The double budget makes sense Record deficit of 120 million euros for 2023 to 2026, which is to be paid primarily from reserves. The Bergmann-Klinik alone will require additional grants of more than 38 million euros by 2025. The total debt will more than double by the end of 2026 to 565 million euros. However, it was recently unclear what sums in the millions the city can expect from the state’s so-called Brandenburg package, which has been set up for the municipalities.
