The municipal supervisory authority thus positively acknowledges the city's consolidation measures to date.

Lord Mayor Frank Klingebiel: "The Ministry of the Interior expressly recognizes that a reduction in controllable expenses alone will not restore balanced budgets in view of the high trade tax losses. The massive slump in trade tax is the main reason for the strained financial situation and is not the responsibility of the city."

The Ministry of the Interior therefore recommends that all possibilities for further savings and improvements in income be put to the test in order to comply with the budget balancing requirement or to further reduce shortfalls to an unavoidable level.

"I am taking this approval as an opportunity to lift the budget freeze that I had imposed," Klingebiel continued. This means that all investment measures planned in the 2016 budget and not yet implemented from previous years can be carried out.

Examples of measures directly affected by the freeze include the modular service station at the train station, the central canteen at the Fredenberg school center, the sports facility at the grammar school in Salzgitter-Bad, Gerhard-Hauptmann-Straße in Salzgitter-Thiede and other various construction and renovation measures in schools and fire stations.

Despite unrestricted approval, the budget situation remains critical, meaning that Klingebiel will continue his course of restrictive management of all available funds responsibly and with a sense of proportion.

The budget statutes will be published shortly. Subsequently, the budget plan with the statutes will be on public display in the City of Salzgitter's Budget and Finance Department. The documents will also be available to all interested parties on the city's website at www.salzgitter.de.