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In the 2021 budget, the government assumes a surplus of 3.2 million francs, and in 2024 there should be another 38 million francs. The effects of the crisis on the crown are remarkable, Baselbieter CFO Anton Lauber (CVP) told a news conference on Wednesday. The expected tax revenue for 2021 would be 48 million Swiss francs below the originally forecast value. And the surplus had to be reduced from the target of 18 in the original financial plan to 3.2 million francs.
In the current year, the canton expects a deficit of 18 million francs instead of the originally budgeted surplus of 37.1 million francs.
However, the positive economic forecasts for the next few years allow the canton to look to the future with optimism. According to the government, the fact that it is expected to be in the black in planning years 2021-2024 is also due to the fact that it has used the narrow financial margin for action “responsibly.” In the current situation, the forecasts are fraught with “great uncertainties,” he said.
The 2021 budget shows an increase in revenue of 1 percent, which is mainly due to higher profit distributions from the National Bank. On the other hand, the canton expects spending to be 2.2 percent higher. This is largely the result of a balance sheet deficit stemming from the reform of the Basellandschaftliche pension fund.
Crisis-resistant canton
Based on these figures, Lauber described the canton of Baselland as “crisis resistant”. He is also “cautiously optimistic” that tax revenues could develop more positively than budgeted.
However, Lauber regretted that the canton had to go back into debt, which contradicted the basic objectives it had set for itself. The reason for this is that the canton is unable to fully disburse the net investments of CHF 204.3 million planned for 2021. The self-financing rate is 78 per cent, an order of magnitude that will continue to exist in subsequent years.
As major investments in the 2021 budget, construction director Isaac Reber (Greens) named the complete connection of the Aesch motorway with gross costs of 22 million francs, the relocation and dismantling of the Rheinstrasse Salina Raurica with gross costs of 15 million , and the expansion of ARA Basel and school construction projects. It costs from 10 to 14 million francs.
Bachgraben feeder lags
In a longer-term perspective through 2030, Reber described two-thirds of planned investments as measures to preserve value. The largest investment in new projects concerns the feeder planned for the Bachgraben development area in Allschwil with net costs of 265 million Swiss francs.
This project will not start as soon as originally planned. As Reber said, the start of construction had to be postponed from 2024 until the latest possible date in 2027, after which the promised federal contributions will expire. One of the reasons for the delay was the complexity of the agreements with France and the canton of Basel-Stadt, through whose areas the feeder will one day drive both above and below ground.
