Veenendaal program budget: ‘Higher increase in wages and prices’

November 2, 2023 at 2:08 PM

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Politics

VEENENDAAL The municipal council is busy making decisions about income and expenditure for 2024 in a Program Budget. However, it is already clear that wages and prices will require an adjustment for next year, because they have risen more than previously expected.

by Peter Kuijpers

Veenendaal calculated with the government data that was known last spring. For example, it has achieved an increase in various taxes and levies with an indexation of 3.1 percent. The data communicated in September shows that the increase in prices is higher. This now amounts to an increase of 3.5 percent. An increase of 5.2 percent was also expected in wages and it is now known that they will increase by 6.7 percent. Furthermore, the indexation for the social domain, with a mix of both, shows that costs will increase not by 4.99 percent but by 6.38 percent.

FLUCTUATIONS

Veenendaal has, however, calculated the previously known price increases in the costs that the municipality expects to incur in the coming years. ‘Working with constant prices for several years promotes the clarity and comparability of the figures over the different years. In addition, this methodology has practical advantages and, for example, prevents significant annual fluctuations in the multi-year perspective for the multitude of changes in wage and price indexations,” the council shares. She has therefore set aside money for the annual budget to pay for any adjustments.

COMPENSATION

The municipality will give subsidy recipients and joint schemes a higher allocation of costs next year, based on the latest figures from the government. And also take a higher salary into account. Veenendaal will also provide a higher contribution to social organizations within the social domain, such as the CJG and Veens Welzijn, for their activities. That is why the college has set aside money for Wage and Price Compensation. She will include this in her household budget at the end of the year. This is done in this way in the majority of municipalities.