No discounts for cultural and sporting activities

The ALG-CSP faction believes that the city's residents should be able to visit museums and indoor swimming pools free of charge. After all, the city of Zug's coffers are full. But the City Council is opposed to this proposal.
 

The ALG-CSP (Alternative Green / Centre Social Protestant) faction in the city council believes that as many people as possible should benefit from the bulging coffers of the City of Zug. It therefore submitted a motion over a year ago demanding the following: ‘Residents of the City of Zug should, as far as possible, be granted free or reduced admission to municipal sports facilities and sports and cultural institutions that receive significant public funding.’

At its meeting on the 25th February 2025, the Grand Municipal Council of the City of Zug (GGR: Grosse Gemeinderat) converted the motion into a less stringent postulate, and the responses to this are now available. They show that the City Council (Stadtrat) disagrees with the interpellants and sees no need for action. It believes that admission prices for municipal indoor swimming pools, for example, are already very moderate, at CHF 3.00 for young people and CHF 6.00 for adults. There are also discounts for adults.

The City Council also believes that free admission would lead to overcrowded indoor swimming pools. In this case, trained staff would have to be employed to ensure the safety of visitors. The ice rink, which would also be covered by the motion, is operated by Kunsteisbahn Zug AG, meaning that the city cannot set the admission prices. The city already finances a large number of sports facilities, such as the municipal swimming pools, the Schützenmatt hard court and the athletics track. These can be used free of charge by the population of Zug.

The city council also analysed the possible effects of free admission to cultural institutions or events, and calculated additional annual costs of up to CHF 1.3 million. According to studies, free admission would lead to a sharp increase in visitor numbers in the short term, before they would decline sharply and return to previous levels.

 According to the ALG-CSP faction, cultural institutions, such as the Museum Burg shown here, should be free for Zug residents                              Photo: Matthias Jurt
 

‘A nice gesture of appreciation’
The ALG-CSP faction thanked the city council for its response, but generally found it regrettable that it did not differentiate more strongly and show a little more courage. ‘In particular, its decision not to make the museums accessible free of charge means that it is missing an opportunity,’ writes Councillor Patrick Steinle on behalf of the group. The additional costs of less than CHF 30,000 per year, which the City Council cites for this item, would amount to less than 3% of the subsidies of well over a CHF 1 million that the city already pays anyway.

‘The fear that more visitors would incur more costs is a joke. Museums and sports facilities are meant for visitors,’ continues Patrick Steinle. Opening the museums completely to non-residents and tourists would also be in line with the new Tourism Strategy.

It goes without saying that events cannot be offered free of charge where there is limited space. But Patrick Steinle is convinced that a “local discount” of, say, 50 % would be a nice gesture of appreciation, would strengthen cultural life and participation in Zug, and would bring more quality of life than further tax rebates.

ALG-CSP faction calls for stricter controls
Patrick Steinle continues: ‘The city council is shirking its responsibility when it comes to the artificial ice rink: the city is the majority shareholder and could therefore enforce a different pricing policy. Here, too, a “local rate” would be appreciated, especially by the local community.’

The example of the artificial ice rink is typical of how municipal tasks in Zug are outsourced to third parties, often associations or foundations: the city pays, while opaque foundation boards and executive committees make the decisions. ‘We are calling for more public control over these institutions in general,’ he adds.

The parliamentary group will now wait for the debate in the GGR and then decide whether it wants to raise individual points again in concrete terms.