The supplement to the double budget was essentially necessary because the state government had earmarked EUR 50 million from the 2018 annual surplus for the city of Salzgitter to deal with its multiple problem situations. This financial support for the strategically necessary structural change had to be incorporated into the budget.

After intensive negotiations with the Minister President of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil, Lord Mayor Frank Klingebiel, with the support of the CDU parliamentary group chairman Dirk Toepffer and the locally responsible members of the state parliament Stefan Klein, Marcus Bosse and Christoph Plett, was able to persuade the state government to provide financial structural aid for the city of Salzgitter. On October 14, 2019, Lord Mayor Frank Klingebiel and Stephan Weil, Minister President of the State of Lower Saxony, presented the municipal concept for the use of the €50 million in funding on which this structural aid is based, which was approved by the Salzgitter City Council on October 29, 2019. This concept, which is based on three pillars, is now to be implemented with the first amendment to the 2019 and 2020 double budget and the change to the business plan of the SZ G.E.L. municipal enterprise.

With an own contribution of 10% per measure, the city of Salzgitter is investing a total of a further €8 million in the following pillars in addition to the €50 million provided by the state:

1. education and social integration

2. urban development needs for action

3. economic structural change

In addition, the extension of the integration fund set up by the state of Lower Saxony and various changes to investment measures were taken into account in the addendum. Although this increases the credit authorization, the city of Salzgitter is limiting and focusing on the implementation of the EUR 50 million structural pact and essential investments that cannot be postponed.

The amount of commitment appropriations for the core administration in 2019 remains unchanged. In 2020, it will change from 0 euros to 640,000 euros. The amount of the SZ G.E.L.'s commitment appropriations will decrease from EUR 24,211,360 to EUR 22,156,000 in 2019. In 2020, it will change from EUR 0 to EUR 33,365,000. The change is exclusively due to the implementation of the EUR 50 million structural package and the integration fund.

However, there were also changes in the income budget, as the forecasts and observations of management progress during the year indicated that the shortfall in the income statement of EUR 14.24 million expected at the time of the 2019 and 2020 budget resolution on 19/12/2018 would be significantly undercut in 2019. By budgeting the relevant items and taking into account the needs-based allocation of EUR 5 million approved for 2019 on October 30, 2019, the shortfall is instead EUR 1.02 million (= an improvement of EUR 13.22 million) and the shortfall can also be reduced by EUR 3.44 million to EUR 15.4 million in 2020, taking into account the expected needs-based allocation of EUR 5 million. Accordingly, the total shortfall for the years 2019 to 2023 improves from EUR 26.91 million to EUR 17.04 million, which means an improvement of EUR 9.89 million.

For 2019, the supplementary budget 2019/2020 results in a debt reduction of EUR 4.82 million compared to the debt reduction of EUR 4.46 million provided for in the approved budget, an improvement of almost EUR 0.4 million. For 2020, the supplementary budget results in net new debt of EUR 0.72 million compared to the originally planned debt reduction of EUR 4.55 million. This results in a deterioration of EUR 5.26 million. Overall, over the planning period from 2019 to 2023, this results in a debt reduction of EUR 8.43 million compared to the previously planned debt reduction of EUR 18.27 million, resulting in a debt reduction of EUR 9.83 million. However, this change is mainly due to the fact that the own contribution to the structural aid package must be implemented.

The changes in the supplementary business plan for 2019 result from the fact that the improvement in the 2019 annual result is to be used via the resulting liquidity to finance important projects with their own shares or cost increases. Overall, this will reduce expenses in the 2019 business plan by EUR 3,385,440. In 2020, the emerging cost increases in many areas have been taken into account in the interests of cautious planning. This results in an increase in expenses of EUR 1,334,001 and an overall change in the planned annual result of EUR 1,331,301. For the time being, the effect of the cost increase will be absorbed by the available income and the liquidity gained from the past. These changes are reflected accordingly in the attached draft supplementary budget bylaws.