Judenburg municipal utility salaries exceed one million euros

Austria’s Styrian state audit office has criticised the high personnel costs at Stadtwerke Judenburg, a municipal utility, while finding few problems with energy supply operations, ORF reported.

The audit examined the municipal utilities of Köflach, Voitsberg and Judenburg between 2021 and 2024. It described the remuneration of one Stadtwerke Judenburg board member as “disproportionately high.”

The report does not give a specific figure, but the board member’s gross salary is reportedly about twice the monthly pay of the governor of Styria, which is just under 20,000 euros. The governor’s salary also serves as the pay ceiling for executives at companies linked to the state, including Energie Steiermark and KAGes.

That ceiling does not apply to Stadtwerke because the utility is controlled by the municipality rather than the state. In 2024, the gross salaries of its three-member executive board, including special payments and bonuses, exceeded one million euros.

The audit office said the personnel costs were very high compared with those of other comparable companies and called for measures to reduce them.

Judenburg Mayor Elke Florian said in a written statement that the city took the recommendations seriously and assumed the company would introduce measures. The Stadtwerke Judenburg board member criticised by the audit office was not available for comment.