After the presentation of this year’s city budget draft by Mayor László Papp, Lajos Barcsa presented the details of the municipality’s management, public education, sports and institutional renovation tasks on February 13, 2024.
Mayor of Debrecen: this year’s city budget is focused on development
Lajos Barcsa was the first to talk about the city’s local tax revenues. He explained that while in 2014 the rate of business tax was only 10 billion forints, now, ten tax years later, the city’s income was already 28 billion forints. This year, this will increase even further, as the 2024 budget is planned for HUF 35 billion. During this time, the income from the construction tax increased by more than HUF 800 million, and the income from the tourism tax by HUF 80 million. All told, the city’s economy has tripled in the last ten years.
Regarding the state aid balance, the deputy mayor added that the city pays HUF 8 billion in solidarity contributions, while the government provides HUF 21.4 billion in normative and HUF 58.3 billion in investment subsidies to Debrecen. The former includes, among other things, HUF 7.2 billion to support public education tasks, as well as HUF 6.7 billion to support social, child feeding and child welfare tasks, and the latter also includes, for example, the development of the Environmental Control System and the installation of solar panels.
Lajos Barcsa detailed the city’s economic development investments, for which this year slightly more than HUF 80 billion will be allocated. From this, the municipality will continue to build the infrastructure of the Southern Economic Zone and the Northwestern Economic Zone, the former can be developed from HUF 14.2 billion and the latter from HUF 11.3 billion. He emphasized that the development of the Northwestern Economic Zone could practically be completed this year, while the main part of the work in the Southern Economic Zone is just starting. At the same time, significant water utility development is also included in this year’s budget, which represents HUF 55 billion in development. The deputy mayor also highlighted HUF 9.2 billion that can be spent on transport, which includes, in addition to urban road construction, large-surface asphalting, residential road construction, road stabilization and pavement reconstruction. He spoke separately about the development of the bicycle path network, which in 2014 amounted to 80 km, and in 2024 the work on the Pallagi úti bicycle path will also be completed, which will bring the total length of bicycle paths in Debrecen to 110 km. However, the expansion of the cycle path network does not stop there, as part of the Sustainable Urban Development Strategy is the development of several cycle paths, the first step of which will be the construction of the Létai út cycle path using TOP+ funds. Lajos Barcsa added that significant road development is taking place this year, also with the support of the government, on state roads, as a result of which the investment of five large junctions will begin, while preparations for the development of another 14 road sections are also underway.
Of the HUF 5 billion items of the institutional development program, the completion of the Epreskert Gymnasium investment stands out, but numerous TOP tenders will be settled and TOP+ tenders will be prepared this year – listed Lajos Barcsa.
The deputy mayor singled out kindergartens among local government institutions, where kindergarten workers can expect a significant salary increase according to the new Pedagogical Career Path Act, which requires HUF 666 million in additional resources for this year. At the same time, the level of state funding for public education tasks will increase by HUF 2.2 billion compared to 2023.
Regarding the activities of EDC Nonprofit Kft., Lajos Barcsa said that HUF 407 million in local government support was foreseen for the company this year. EDC’s plans for 2024 include organizing the supplier forum again and implementing education programs. Furthermore, he emphasized that with the help of the EDC, they are trying to position the city in such a way that Debrecen can host more and more international conferences. The invigorating effect of these events on tourism would be very positive for the hotel and service sector.
Lajos Barcsa talked about the city’s sports expenditures: the biggest part of the HUF 1.72 billion budget is the HUF 1.425 billion management of the Debrecen Sportcentrum Nonprofit Kft. The city spends HUF 423 million to support prominent sports organizations, such as the DVSC Football Academy, DVSC Handball Kft., Cívis Póló Vízilabda SE, DEAC Sport Nonprofit Kft. and the Debrecen City and District Football Association.
In addition, the municipality allocated HUF 103 million for both compulsory and voluntary sports tasks, in which, in addition to the support of amateur sports, the funds were also provided for the support of special sports events, the support of the dirt bike sport and the Békéssy Béla sports scholarship.
Regarding Debreceni Vagyonkezelő Zrt.’s tasks in 2024, Lajos Barcsa highlighted that the goal of the city administration is still that the holding’s member companies serve the citizens of Debrecen in the highest possible quality, and at the same time they do not forget about developments. As an example, he mentioned that at DKV Zrt, the replacement of the diesel bus stock, which began at the beginning of January 2022, will be completed in 2024, and only new Mercedes buses will run from the last quarter of the year. The company is doing all this development without planning any tariff increases, and from April 1st, the use of public transport will be free for students under the age of 14 in Debrecen.
The deputy mayor concluded his briefing by saying that, in general, it can be said that in 2024, workers in almost all sectors can expect a wage increase, since the personal expenses in the institutional budgets will increase significantly, and thanks to the successful public energy procurements, we can successfully leave the high utility prices of last year behind us.
(debrecen.hu)
