This topic came up this morning via ARD (public TV, Channel One).
So the German Association of Cities and Municipalities said in a guarded way....there's less money coming into the pot, and money still being spent by the cities themselves.
How much? Well....the estimate goes between forty and sixty billion Euro...across all of Germany. A fair sum of money, if you think about it.
A lot of this is related to tax or cash revenue, which simply isn't happening at the normal rate. Add onto it....various cities run pools, parks, museums and bus traffic. They would have a revolving income situation....helping to cover costs. If that income is interrupted...say for six weeks, you only had 20-percent of the public using the bus service....or you had four museums in town which generally earned 2,000 Euro a week but went almost eight weeks with no income at all....then you got you problems.
Will the federal government get the hint? Probably, but I doubt if they cover the entire amount. They might agree to some package with thirty-odd billion Euro, and everyone is asked to make budget cuts for the remainder of 2020.
This is why this big discussion of pools opening has been in the public for the past couple of weeks. Most outdoor pools are going toward some plan that involves sanitizing the grounds/pool every couple of hours.
Bus tickets likely rising out of this mess? It wouldn't surprise me if a 20-cent per ticket surcharge for one year....was thrown into the mix.....to make up for some losses.
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