To compensate for funding shortages in recent years, the municipality of Leeuwarden will get 20 million euros from a national loan-loss reserve. Several other Frisian municipalities will also receive compensation.
Translation by Traci White
Omrop Fryslân reports that Leeuwarden was one of a large number of municipalities that applied for supplemental funding from the loan-loss reserve. In total, 77 municipalities were approved for compensation to cover shortages caused by changes to national care policies.
In 2015, the Dutch national government made municipalities responsible for certain social services, such as youth counselling, adult day care, home care, homeless shelters and domestic violence shelters. The national government decision claimed that these resources could be provided more cheaply on the local level, but care in all of these sectors was made more difficult due to reduced national funding.
Leeuwarden
The municipality of Leeuwarden spent 30 million euros of its own money on these forms of care between 2015 and 2017, and the city will face 14 million euros in cuts in 2019. Leeuwarden is receiving the most money per capita in the entire country: approximately 192 euros per inhabitant.
The other Frisian municipalities that were approved for additional funding were Weststellingwerf, Opsterland, Ooststellingwerf and Tytsjerksteradiel. The Leeuwarder Courant reports that loan-loss reserve has 200 million euros, 100 million of which came from the municipal fund and the other half from the national government.
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