Baar and Steinhausen municipalities report very positive figures

A number of pleasingly high surpluses have already been presented by municipalities in the canton. Just last week, for example, the City of Zug reported a surplus of around CHF 90 million, and the canton reported a record-high surplus, largely due to much higher tax income from legal entities. "The same also applies to Baar," said municipal councillor Pirmin Andermatt in a recent press release. Steinhausen has also reported a very positive result.

Better than expected
This is how the Baar municipal council (Gemeinderat) assesses the surplus in the 2023 accounts, reporting a surplus of CHF 27.1 million compared to the expected CHF 5.1 million. Once again, the result is better than budgeted because tax income from legal entities was higher than expected. At CHF 61.8 million, this was almost CHF 16 million higher than forecast. Tax revenue from natural persons was almost CHF 1.6 million above budget, at CHF 59.6 million, and property gains tax and inheritance and gift tax brought in almost CHF 3.3 million more than forecast.

Municipal councillor Pirmin Andermatt comments: "The forecast of the tax figures for individual companies that we received for our budgeting from the cantonal tax administration was too low." It’s pleasing to see that the companies have recovered so quickly compared to previous years.

As a reminder: tax income from legal entities in 2021 totalled just CHF 34.5 million. "The extremely positive result in 2023 and the favourable forecasts for the following years will be taken into account in the 2025 budget," announced the CFO. This means that the people of Baar should benefit: "The municipal council can consider reducing the tax rate from the current 53% to 51% from 2025."

Expenses have been precisely budgeted
The municipal council was able to budget expenses very precisely, spending CHF 600,000 less than planned, totalling around CHF 146.8 million. Pirmin Andermatt comments: "We managed a precision landing in many areas. Where we can exert a targeted influence, we budget very precisely."

Baar spent more than planned in areas such as staff recruitment, primary school and care costs. Lower expenditure was incurred in areas such as civil engineering, energy and the environment, and unemployment benefits.

The Cantonal Financial Equalisation is also a major item for the municipality: with CHF 5.9 million, Baar transferred less than the CHF 8.7 million in the previous year. The National Financial Equalisation cost the municipality CHF 8.9 million.

High investments planned
The stable financial situation is also important because high investments are planned, with the municipality currently expanding its infrastructure. Pirmin Andermatt is positive about the future: "We can still finance the investments from our own resources. Net assets are very high, at CHF 6,366 per resident." The chances are good that the municipality will "only incur a small amount of debt, or none at all", despite the high level of investment activity.

"We are on a very sound financial footing," says Pirmin Andermatt. "We appear to be well equipped for further major projects, such as the expansion of the bus station or the redesign and development of the Bahnmatt site."

Major investments are soon to be made in Baar. The municipality can afford this thanks to its stable financial situation               Symbolic image: Stefan Kaiser
Steinhausen has also reported an income surplus for 2023

Steinhausen reports a revenue surplus of over CHF 6 million for 2023
The 2023 annual accounts for the municipality of Steinhausen have closed with an income surplus of CHF 6,129,385.55 - around CHF 3.8 million higher than the previous year. A revenue surplus of CHF 2,351,300 was originally budgeted, and the difference compared to the original budget is, once again, due to higher tax income from legal entities, which were CHF 10.4 million higher than budgeted, according to the recent press release.

Income from taxation amounted to CHF 49.17 million, CHF 11.3 million more than budgeted. Tax income from natural persons, on the other hand, was slightly lower than budgeted: compared to the 2022 annual accounts, these remained stable, while those of legal entities increased by around CHF 842,000. At CHF 2.048 million, property gains tax was in line with the budget of CHF 2 million.

The major expense items, such as personnel expenses (minus 1.3%), material and other operating expenses (minus 0.4%) and ordinary depreciation and amortisation (minus 4.9%) were lower than budgeted. The result achieved in terms of expenses, with a deviation of minus 1.5%, thereby corresponds almost exactly to the budget.

Net assets per capita increased by around CHF 1,800
Due to the good result, the municipal council has decided to make additional write-downs totalling CHF 4.2 million and a pre-financing of CHF 5 million for the extension of the Sunnegrund 5 school building. As a result, extraordinary expenses are CHF 9.2 million higher than budgeted. The net assets per resident rose from CHF 6,273 to CHF 8,027 as a result of the revenue surplus.

Net investments of CHF 2,726,210 were made in the 2023 financial year, compared to the budgeted CHF 4,624,000. The main reasons for the deviation of CHF 1.9 million were lower expenditure on roads, special financing for wastewater disposal and investment contributions to private companies. The municipal assembly (Gemeindeversammlung) on 20 June 2024 will decide on the annual financial statements.