Bern in financial drama: Mettler announces rescue plan for 2026!

Bern in financial drama: Mettler announces rescue plan for 2026!

Melanie Mettler (GLP), the finance director of the city of Bern, is faced with the challenge of stabilizing the city's financial conditions. The local council has determined that planned expenditure exceeds expected income. Despite this alarming situation, a slight surplus is forecast for 2026. Mettler is trying to avoid a deficit without reducing the city's overall performance and is aiming for balanced budgets this legislative session.

In order to improve the financial situation, Mettler emphasizes that budgets need to be looked at more closely so that reserves can be built up. This requires prioritizing tasks strategically rather than making across-the-board savings. Mettler describes the cooperation in the committee as positive, and the good culture of discussion is a further step towards a stabilized financial situation.

Budget forecasts and investments

The key figures of the 2025 budget show that the expenses are CHF 12,987 million and the income is CHF 13,233 million, which leads to a total result in the income statement of CHF 246 million. However, the target for 2025 is a financing balance of -97 million CHF, which means new debt of 9 million CHF.

The task and financial plan for 2026 forecasts expenses of CHF 13,248 million and income of CHF 13,683 million, resulting in a positive balance of CHF 436 million. A positive trend can also be seen in the following years: a total result of CHF 386 million is expected in 2027 and CHF 408 million in 2028. Net investments similarly amount to CHF 722 million for 2026, CHF 683 million for 2027, and CHF 568 million for 2028.

Long-term financial strategies

A key challenge remains the city's debt burden, which currently stands at 1.5 billion francs. Mettler sees the need to reduce this debt through higher surpluses while at the same time investing in essential areas such as infrastructure and climate adaptation measures. Despite planned tax cuts, the financial budget remains in balance, with the tax strategy aiming to reduce the tax burden by CHF 500 million annually by 2030.

The planned reduction in the tax rate for legal entities and natural persons is already showing initial progress: by 2 tax rate tenths for 2024 and by half a tax rate rate in the 2025 budget. From 2027 onwards, smoothing of tax progression is planned, which is intended to reduce the burden on lower incomes in particular by CHF 130 million annually. However, these measures must be viewed against the background of a possible economic downturn, which could have a negative impact on tax revenues.

In summary, the city of Bern under Mettetler's leadership must make some difficult decisions in order to secure long-term financial stability while making necessary investments. The finance director plans to maintain exchanges with the left-green-dominating city parliament via the finance commission in order to develop a common strategy to stabilize finances.

For further details on the financial affairs of the city of Bern, the reports from derbund.ch and the official media releases from the Canton of Bern at be.ch can be viewed.