The City of Lausanne has a deficit of 11.4 million francs at the end of the 2021 financial year, much less than the 86 million initially budgeted. Like a year earlier, the health crisis had a strong impact on the accounts, to the tune of 26 million.
“The year 2021 was finally a good year. If it had not been for the Covid effect, we would have ended with a profit of 14 million”, observed the city’s trustee, Grégoire Junod, on Tuesday in front of the media.
The health crisis has caused costs and loss of income for the Vaud capital. Some 7.5 million francs, for example, were spent to support players who were victims of the economic crisis, while 3 million covered the deficit of transport companies. On the other hand, the restrictions linked to the health crisis generated a reduction in fines of 5.4 million, and a reduction in entertainment tax of 2.6 million.
In total, the impact of the health crisis on the Lausanne accounts amounts to 26 million. Despite this, the final deficit of 11.4 million francs is much lower than expected.
“Disappointed in good”
This moderate hole in the coffers is explained in particular by tax receipts of 73 million which did not appear in the budget. The tax on legal persons thus exceeded the budget forecasts by 30 million, that on natural persons by 26 million, and other taxes by 17 million.
“When in 2020, we established the 2021 budget, we had no idea how the health crisis was going to evolve, or how the economy was going to do, explains Lausanne finance director, Florence Germond. Our pessimistic forecasts did not come true.”
“The positive evolution of tax revenues has disappointed us for the better,” smiles the municipality. Its corollary is, however, that Lausanne’s contributions to financial equalization have been greater than those budgeted.
Record investments
Investment expenditure for 2021 amounts to some 164 million gross francs. “This is the highest amount of the last 10 years”, underlines Florence Germond. The maintenance of water, gas or electricity networks (47 million), the renovation of the Beaulieu theater (23 million) and the sanitation of school buildings and the creation of classes (23 million) constitute the main expenditure .
“Lausanne has continued to invest, to prepare for the sporting and cultural future despite the health crisis, points out Grégoire Junod. We can see the virtues of Keynesianism, which want the community to inject a lot of money in times of crisis in order to maintain economic prosperity.”
The authorities welcomed the fact that all of the major capital expenditures made in 2021 might be self-financed through the city’s liquidities. They also noted that since 2012, net debt per capita has fallen by 14%, to reach 14,169 francs in 2021.
Big investments to come
The trustee hailed the city’s ability to “invest and incur additional expenses while maintaining accounts almost in balance, and this with a stabilized debt that has been falling slightly for 10 years”.
The municipality, however, warned that an even higher level of investment, of the order of 1.12 billion, was planned for the 2021-2026 legislature. “It is a question of responding to the challenges of the Climate Plan”, insisted Florence Germond.
As a reminder, this aims for carbon neutrality by 2050. It relies in particular on the energy sanitation of buildings, large-scale tree planting, the use of waste to supply district heating and the abandonment of the thermal car by 2030 to achieve this.
This article has been published automatically. Source: ats
