Gießen faces financial challenges: cuts are looming from 2026!

Gießen faces financial challenges: cuts are looming from 2026!

The city of Giessen is facing significant financial challenges. From 2026 onwards, noticeable cuts will have to be planned in the budget, according to a report by the Gießener Anzeiger emerges. The reason is historical losses in the state funds that the city has received. Chamberlain Alexander Wright has already announced measures to improve the financial situation.

The new census data shows a decline in the number of residents by 6,000, which has a negative impact on allocations from municipal financial equalization. Although the budget for 2025 initially does not require any massive cuts, a zero round of staff increases will be introduced. Mayor Frank-Tilo Becher expressed serious concerns about the financial situation of the municipalities and emphasized the importance of not jeopardizing social tasks and cultural offerings. The city will also appeal the census data.

Financial savings and possible measures

Becher sees the need to design savings in such a way that the community is not harmed. This includes rejecting calls from the opposition to abolish the cultural industry court, which Becher sees as crucial to the attractiveness of the city center and the creative industries. The treasurer also plans to prove the 6,000 missing residents using the population register and has requested access to the files in order to check the accuracy of the census numbers.

There were around 13,000 changes of residence in the university town between May and December 2022, which could additionally influence the available census data. Additional data and evaluations on the population, living situation and vacancies are also available on the website Census 2022 made available. These include, among other things, market shares of property, vacancy rates and other demographic information that could be helpful for a detailed analysis of the financial situation.