The fact that the budget approval has once again been granted without restrictions should be seen as a positive signal from the state capital: the Ministry of the Interior is thus repeatedly recognizing the extraordinary situation of the city of Salzgitter due to the refugee situation and the associated management of the budgetary challenges. In fact, Mayor Klingebiel has succeeded in presenting an income budget that shows a positive balance of around EUR 1 million, even taking into account the refugee costs. In this context, the Ministry of the Interior has once again accepted that the refugee costs can be presented separately in the 2018 budget. The Ministry of the Interior deliberately left open whether this will remain the case for future budgets of the city of Salzgitter from a procedural point of view. "Nevertheless," emphasized Klingebiel, "I am sticking to my view that the state of Lower Saxony must fully reimburse the city of Salzgitter for the refugee-related expenses that it did not cause itself and massively compensate financially for the already long-standing structural underfunding of the city's budget in the fulfilment of mandatory state tasks such as ensuring the legal entitlement to a daycare place, all-day care, inclusion, school social work and much more."

The city of Salzgitter's willingness to consolidate is also manifested in the target agreement concluded with the state of Lower Saxony, in which the city of Salzgitter commits to permanent savings. In the course of budget management, additional savings potential and revenue improvements are therefore being examined and exploited. The Ministry of the Interior has acknowledged this willingness to consolidate by promising the city of Salzgitter a financial needs-based allocation of up to €5 million by the end of 2018. The Ministry of the Interior has already transferred EUR 3 million in recognition of its own consolidation efforts, which have already been completed.

The moderate net new borrowing for investment loans shows once again that the city of Salzgitter continues to limit its expenditure to mandatory tasks and absolutely necessary voluntary tasks of municipal welfare provision. "I stand by my view that Salzgitter does not have a spending problem, but rather a revenue problem," said Mayor Klingebiel. On a positive note, the state of Lower Saxony has guaranteed that the third year of kindergarten will be completely free of parental contributions from 01.08.2018, thanks to the previous reimbursement. For Salzgitter, this means that the municipal budget will be relieved by €4.2 million for the 2018/2019 kindergarten year, rising to €4.6 million annually from the 2021/2022 kindergarten year. "I am very pleased that the state of Lower Saxony is following the good example of the city of Salzgitter, which has already completely exempted parents in Salzgitter from these contributions at its own expense since 2008," added the Lord Mayor. However, according to Klingebiel, only 55% of the personnel costs will be reimbursed with this state money for the time being; all other daycare costs will continue to be borne by the city.