Zoetermeer ends 2024 cautiously positively
The annual accounts of the municipality of Zoetermeer show a positive balance of approximately 6.8 million euros for 2024.* Nevertheless, alderman Jan Iedema is cautious about being too cheerful about this. "Thanks to a healthy financial position, we are fortunately able to absorb setbacks and at the same time continue to invest in the city." At the same time, the board points out that more than €20 million in withdrawals and additions have taken place to the reserves. "The realistic picture is that without the use of these reserves, the result would have been €13.8 million negative."
The 20 million largely concerns expenditure from reserves earmarked for this purpose, such as for Zoetermeer 2040, but an amount of €5 million was also withdrawn from freely deployable reserves to restore balance in the 2024 budget. This prevented the municipality from coming under preventive supervision.
Zoetermeer can look back with satisfaction on the growth in residents, homes, businesses and jobs. "We show ourselves to be resilient when it comes to our direct living environment, facilities, safety and resilience. We invest in the security of existence and resilience of vulnerable groups. People make Zoetermeer vital, people are the driving force behind the annual accounts. Not only because it is our duty to share them, but especially because it provides a good insight into what we have worked hard for with the municipal council, the municipal organization and society", the board writes in its introduction. "With the 'financial ravine' in sight, difficult choices will have to be made before 2026", the board warns. "If the central government continues to persist in its position of not adding sufficient resources to the Municipal Fund, this will lead to difficult choices in the course of 2025. Despite this, we will continue to strive to make Zoetermeer even more beautiful and attractive."
The expectation is that the audit of the 2024 Annual Accounts will be completed before the results debate of 16 June. The accounts of institutions for youth care and Wmo will then also have been processed and the accountant's report can be adopted simultaneously with the annual figures. The board proposes to the municipal council to add the positive result to the Freely deployable reserve and to allocate it in the Perspective Note.
* Provisional positive balance of the Zoetermeer 2024 annual accounts, €6,767,104.