Graz resumes city orders under budget restrictions

Graz city departments can resume placing orders, but spending will remain restricted as the city works to secure its finances, ORF reported. New grant applications will be prioritised under a timetable agreed by the city government on Friday.

A budget freeze was imposed in early September at the request of City Finance Councillor Manfred Eber of the Communist Party and Finance Director Johannes Müller. The processing of new grants was also temporarily suspended.

The measures became necessary because of a forecast additional need for liquidity during the year in the area of statutory social benefits, Eber’s office said. The aim is to ensure that Graz can meet all legally required, contractual and previously approved obligations.

Municipal departments may now place orders again, but only for spending required to fulfil the city’s legal duties or essential to maintaining internal operations.

For new grant applications, specialist departments can submit a prioritised list by October 9 of the grants they want to approve for the remainder of the year. The applications will then undergo a structured decision-making process based on available liquidity. The city senate is expected to make corresponding decisions in mid-November.

Previously approved grants were not affected by the short-term freeze, the city government said.

The city also plans to improve procedures for statutory social benefits. Together with the state government’s municipal oversight authority, it will analyse the bureaucratic and organisational framework for processing these benefits during the year and planning liquidity.

Eber said the city government must handle available funds carefully and agree on clear priorities. This would make the current situation manageable and allow Graz to gradually return to a regular budget path, he said.

An extraordinary meeting of Graz’s municipal council will take place next Thursday at 10 a.m. The opposition parties ÖVP, FPÖ, SPÖ and NEOS requested the meeting to discuss the city’s financial situation. They have called for full transparency over what they described earlier in the week as a dramatic financial position.