Every third municipality in Germany is planning increasing fees for water supply, street cleaning and garbage disposal.
Higher parking fees and a higher property tax are also being discussed in many places.
In addition, consideration is being given to reducing the benefits: At the top of the list: closing swimming pools or at least restricting bathing operations.
After all, 17 percent of the communities are thinking about it.
Overall, almost two thirds of the municipalities surveyed have plans to increase taxes and fees or have already increased them in the past few months. In short: life in Germany is becoming more expensive. Almost a quarter of the cities and municipalities surveyed want to reduce benefits for citizens at the same time. These are all results of a survey by the consulting company EY among 300 municipalities with at least 20,000 inhabitants.