Budget cuts for culture & social services

The Hague Municipal Executive announced that all cultural organisations and social services would receive 7.7% less in subsidies in 2011. These cost reductions are a direct result of diminishing revenues for the Municipality of The Hague, mainly due to national economic measures.

The Municipal Executive (college van burgemeester en wethouders) also intends to cut costs for poverty prevention, saving up € 8.5 million in poverty prevention in 2011. The Municipal Executive nevertheless will spare people with the lowest incomes as much as possible so that they can continue to take part in society.

Coalition agreement

In the coalition agreement the political parties agreed upon a € 152 million budget cut over the next four years. The culture and social services subsidies and poverty prevention cuts are part of this plan.

Culture and social services

The subsidy cuts for the cultural sector in 2011 will yield € 5.1 million from a total of € 66.8 million. For the social services sector, € 7.2 million will be saved from € 115 million.

The Municipal Executive intends to keep the level of cultural subsidies in 2012 equal to 2011 so no additional subsidy cuts are planned for culture. However, no strategy has been defined yet for the social services sector for 2012 to 2014.

The plan is open to public comments until 1 September 2010 before it goes to the Municipal Council for a final vote.