City of Munich calculates: Corona costs us

Created: 02/28/2022, 08:15

By: Klaus Vick

Cost-intensive area: Mayor Dieter Reiter and health officer Beatrix Zurek (both SPD) at the opening of the Riem vaccination center.

Hartman © .

The Corona-related expenses tear a deep hole in the city coffers.

Above all, it is unclear whether the costs for contact tracing will be reimbursed by the Free State.

According to Munich* health officer Beatrix Zurek (SPD), there is a risk of a deficit of up to 100 million euros in this area.

It is a huge act of bureaucracy: the municipalities pay in advance for costs incurred by the pandemic and then submit the amounts to the government of Upper Bavaria afterwards.

In the case of the city of Munich, the application for the funds is partly decentralized by the individual specialist departments or centrally by the Treasury.

This records the Corona*-related expenses, such as for the operation of the vaccination center in Riem including the branch offices, on a monthly basis.

Munich: The city is sitting on high costs for corona contact tracing

According to the Treasury, the city had submitted applications for around 132.6 million euros as of January 2022.

A sum of around 37.6 million euros had been settled by then.

The city treasury says: “These are interim figures that are continuously updated and therefore change accordingly.” According to the treasury, the applications for reimbursement rejected by the government amount to around six million euros.

A rather small sum compared to the open claims that the health department complains about.

According to information from the authorities, reimbursement applications for a total of 61 million euros have been submitted there, of which only 4.8 million euros have been paid out.

And there's another huge item that's being funded, and that's contact tracing.

According to health officer Zurek, the notification and data collection of people who have tested positive is the most cost-intensive area next to the operation of the vaccination center.

Around 500 people are busy tracing contacts every day in the Riem exhibition hall or in their home office.

Munich: Costs add up to two or even three-digit millions

According to the health department, the costs for city-owned and external staff, for rent, IT and equipment will add up to a high two-digit or even three-digit million amount by the end of 2022.

So far, the Free State has only reimbursed 1.3 million euros.

Much to the annoyance of the Munich health officer: "We have a huge funding gap that is a heavy burden on the city's budget," criticizes Zurek.

She is calling on the Free State to “finally issue the guidelines for reimbursement of contact tracing costs that have been announced several times”.

The city cannot be left with the additional costs caused by the pandemic.

According to treasurer Christoph Frey (SPD), the city is in constant contact with the government of Upper Bavaria in this regard.

However, they are sometimes waiting for corresponding specifications themselves.

Frey admits that the federal and state governments have made significant sums available to compensate for the indirect consequences of the pandemic.

For example, in 2020 Munich received compensation for the lower trade tax revenue, corona aid for the hospitals or reimbursement for the loss of income from public transport.

However, the city itself also acted quickly and unbureaucratically to deal with the pandemic, “wherever possible”.

In the long run, however, these considerable advance payments are not manageable.

Frey: "We therefore now expect a speedy reimbursement of the costs incurred."

Munich: It is unclear to what extent there will be a refund

It is unclear whether and to what extent this will happen.

If the allocations from the Free State are not sufficient for the expenses of a health authority, the costs not covered would have to be negotiated in the annual discussions about municipal financial equalization, according to the Ministry of Health.

As for the effort involved in contact tracing, the city has been offered state administration staff to assist.

However, Munich has “partially dispensed with the assistance of state forces,” explains a spokeswoman for the ministry.

Additional budgetary funds are available to a limited extent for the material costs for contact tracing.

“These funds should be distributed equally among the health authorities as needed.

According to the ministry spokeswoman, there is a federal subsidy pot for corona-related additional costs in the IT area.

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