Vienna Increases Fees for Public Services
The City of Vienna increases the fees for water, sewage, waste disposal as well as the prices of parking tickets. The adjustment of tariffs for municipal services is made in Vienna based on the applicable valorization law.
The city government announced that the fees for water, sewage, garbage disposal and the price of parking tickets will be increased. / Picture: © Magistrat der Stadt Wien / PID / David Bohmann
Now, as of January 1, 2023, the charges for water supply, wastewater and waste disposal, parking meter fees and selected user fees for the use of public municipal land will be adjusted to the consumer price index (CPI).
There is a mid-year check to see if the consumer price index (CPI) has increased by three percent or more since the last increase, which is the case, according to the city government, and thus cited as one of the reasons for the price increases. According to the city government, this has increased by 5.9 percent since the last increase in tariffs at the beginning of 2022 for water supply and sewage and waste disposal.
Peter Hanke (SPÖ), city councilor for finance, assures that municipal taxes are invested in modernizing and improving the service quality of Vienna's public services and infrastructure. One also does not take in more than is needed, one assures. The average cost recovery ratio of the Viennese fees was thus only 41,18 percent in 2021, the remainder was covered with approximately 750 million euros from the municipal budget.
According to the city government, the current fee valorization means a monthly fee adjustment of approximately 2.90 euros for a multi-person sample household for water supply, wastewater and waste disposal. For a single sample household, the monthly fee adjustment is about 1.30 euros.
Also adjusted is the parking meter fee, which increases the cost of a parking ticket for half an hour to 1.25 euros, while the parking ticket for one hour will cost 2.50 euros. According to the city government, the revenue from the parking meter fee is earmarked and goes to public transport, road safety and cycling. The price for the exemption permit for residents ("Parkpickerl") is not regulated by the Valorization Act, there is no change here.
Opposition criticizes increase
"After the exorbitant increase in the prices for district heating, the rent increase in the municipal building and the price increases for electricity and gas, now comes another price increase," criticizes Judith Pühringer, party leader of the Green Party Vienna, according to the ORF.
According to the ORF, for ÖVP regional party leader Karl Mahrer, Vienna is becoming the "inflation capital of Austria" and the "SPÖ governs ice-cold and never misses an opportunity to burden the people in our city."
FPÖ leader Dominik Nepp stated that Mayor Michael Ludwig had finally lost his "social conscience". It is shocking to which social "ice box policy" the SPÖ is capable of, he held, according to the ORF.
Finance city councilor Peter Hanke justified the Valorization of the fees as securing only "the high-quality level of the services of general interest, which the Viennese are used to for decades." Hanke assured that the Viennese "can rely on the fact that the additional fees are in a clear price-performance ratio and are money well spent." According to Hanke, Vienna will continue to be "the cleanest major city in Europe, with the best high-spring water and state-of-the-art wastewater disposal."