Village restaurants about to be sold Glarus municipality makes rigorous savings - is a hefty tax increase on the way?
The municipality of Glarus is in a financial crisis - including an investment backlog and drastic cost-cutting measures. Now a tax increase is supposed to save the day.
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- The municipality of Glarus is struggling with a financial imbalance.
- The municipal council has therefore recently decided on numerous cost-cutting measures.
- At the municipal assembly on Friday, a decision will now be made to increase the tax rate by 5 percentage points.
The finances of the municipality of Glarus are in a bleak state. Or "challenging", as the municipal council puts it in a press release. The main problems according to the municipality: high necessary investments, an insufficient level of self-financing and a structural deficit.
The situation is so serious that the authorities have already been forced to implement a drastic savings program in the current year.
A few key points from the long catalog: The Dreieck ski lift will be sold or dismantled. A total of six village and mountain restaurants are to be transferred to private owners. In addition, the Ygruben swimming pool could only be operated this summer because the Glarner Gemeinnützige foundation granted a deficit guarantee of CHF 150,000. The municipality can no longer cover the costs.
Drastic tax increase planned
The 2026 budget is due to be approved at the municipal assembly on Friday. Even at the last municipal assembly, when the budget was not even on the agenda, most of the speeches revolved around the precarious financial situation.
Accordingly, heated discussions are likely to be pre-programmed this evening in the Buchholz gymnasium. Especially as the municipal council considers an extremely unpopular measure to be a "necessary, if not sufficient step": increasing the municipal tax rate by a whopping 5 percentage points.
According to the authorities, this is the only way to stabilize the financial budget. If the municipal assembly approves the tax increase, the 2026 budget would result in a narrow revenue surplus of around CHF 300,000 for the first time in years.
Resistance to the sale of restaurants
In contrast to the sale of the restaurants, where the SP and the Greens at least want to oppose the sale of the Gesellschaftshaus Ennenda, the municipal council is unlikely to face any opposition from political parties regarding the tax increase.
It remains to be seen whether this cut in the personal budget will also find a majority among the population.
