Baselland closes 2023 accounts with 94 million deficit
Published: Wednesday, Mar 20th 2024, 15:10
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The canton of Basel-Landschaft is reporting a deficit of 94 million francs in its 2023 income statement. This is many times more than the deficit of 6 million budgeted by the government, as Finance Director Anton Lauber (center) announced on Wednesday. He announced an austerity package.
"This puts us in a tight situation," Lauber told the media. The drivers for this development are on both the income and expenditure side. One of the reasons is the lack of profit distribution from the Swiss National Bank. This led to a reduction in income of CHF 68 million.
Another factor is the canton's lower share of direct federal and withholding tax, as Lauber said. This led to a minus of CHF 44 million and CHF 11 million respectively.
Lauber speaks of uncontrollable factors
On the expenditure side, provisions of CHF 49 million for legacy liabilities had a negative impact. The value adjustment for the Baselland cantonal hospital also had a negative impact of CHF 25 million. The unplanned one-off costs were not yet recognizable in the 2023 budget, as Lauber explained.
Tax revenue, on the other hand, developed positively with an increase of twelve million francs. There was also an improvement in personnel expenses in the income statement.
Lauber said that the 2023 annual financial statements were "not pleasing", but were mainly due to external factors that the canton could not control.
Rising health and education costs
"What lies ahead is rather worrying," he said in an outlook for the coming years. In the years 2024 to 2027, expenditure on healthcare is expected to grow by CHF 181 million. In the education sector, the canton is expecting growth of CHF 117 million over the same period due to higher pupil numbers.
In view of these figures, the Finance Directorate has already considered a savings package, as Lauber went on to explain. He announced the first guidelines for this. For example, the cost-of-living adjustment for state contributions will be waived and no more new jobs will be created than provided for in the 2024 to 2027 expenditure and finance plan.
The canton's equity is decreasing and amounts to CHF 650 million. "However, there is still a good cushion," said Lauber.
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