News item | 01-06-2022 | 10:58
On Wednesday 1 June, Minister Hanke Bruins Slot of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK) sent the May Circular to both Houses. This includes information on what the new distribution of the municipal fund will mean for municipalities as of 1 January 2023. The reason for the redistribution is, among other things, that the current model is no longer in line with municipal expenditure. The model is not a terminal and will require continuous maintenance. Municipalities will also have more resources available in the coming years. This is partly due to the extensive extra accres that will be added up to and including 2025.
Ingrowth path
With a view to financial suitability, a gradual integration path has been chosen. For municipalities with a limited financial capacity and a low socio-economic status and for shrinking municipalities, an adapted growth path applies. The Council for Public Administration (ROB), the Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG) and municipalities are closely involved in the implementation of the research agenda proposed by the ROB. Before the summer, the Chamber will receive more information from Minister Bruins Slot about the process and the content of this agenda.
The coalition agreement
All agreements from the coalition agreement, which have been incorporated in the Spring Memorandum, have been included in the May Circular. The current coalition agreement contains additional resources for municipalities, provinces and water boards for the period 2022-2025 to solve existing bottlenecks such as:
- The increase in the upscaling discount for municipalities and provinces for the period 2022-2025 has been canceled.
- Additional resources are also available for municipalities for, for example, Youth Care, the Environment Act and the Quality Assurance for Building Act.
- Provinces will receive compensation for excluding motor vehicle tax from electric vehicles until 2024.
- Water boards are compensated because they contribute relatively much to the WOZ Act.
- Resources will also be made available to municipalities, provinces and water boards for future tasks, such as agreements from the climate agreement.
Extra expenses
In addition to the coalition agreement, the government will also make a number of additional expenditures this spring, such as the energy surcharge for low-income households and additional expenditure on defense. This will lead to a higher accres for municipalities and provinces up to and including 2025. The accres is fixed for 2026 and beyond, but will be adjusted for changes in wage and price developments.
Corona and reception of displaced persons from Ukraine
Municipalities will receive compensation for the loss of income as a result of the corona crisis in 2020 and 2021 and will receive additional resources to strengthen services. Agreements have also been made with municipalities about the extra costs resulting from the reception of displaced persons from Ukraine.
contour note
VNG, IPO and the Union of Water Boards are working in a joint process with an independent supervisor to arrive at a new financing system for 2026 and beyond. Minister Bruins Slot will send this outline memorandum to the House before the summer.