Solid Finances

Leipzig is growing — but it's growing beyond its means. A budget that's permanently balanced only through new debt isn't policy, it's shifting the burden onto the next generation. I'm going to change that.

A consolidation plan with a clear path. In my first 100 days, I'll present a transparent consolidation path with verifiable milestones — public, and reviewed every year. Mandatory tasks take priority over voluntary spending. Every voluntary program gets checked for whether it actually works. What doesn't work stops being funded.

Investment that pays for itself. Not every expense is an investment. Priority goes to what reduces future costs or secures revenue: renovations that cut energy costs, infrastructure that attracts business, digitalization that eases staffing needs. Symbolic projects with no economic leverage go to the back of the line.

Not a single euro of debt without a return for the city.

Social costs where they belong. Leipzig covers a large share of its social spending itself — even though the causes lie in federal and state law. For housing costs (KdU), the federal government currently covers around 71 percent; together with other major East German cities, I will launch a Bundesrat initiative for at least 80 percent. For integration assistance, which in Saxony runs through the Kommunaler Sozialverband (Municipal Social Association), I will negotiate a structural cost-sharing agreement with the State of Saxony in parallel. Every percentage point of additional federal participation is money that can go into schools, roads and daycare.

Using only 90 percent of the debt ceiling isn't forced austerity — it's basic decency toward the next generation.

Solid finances aren't a given — they're the precondition for Leipzig still being able to act ten years from now. Without them, none of the rest of this program matters.