Canton Schwyz shifts cultural burden equalization
The voters of the Canton of Schwyz have decided that from 2022, the canton's contributions to cultural institutions in Lucerne and Zurich will no longer be covered by the regular budget, but will instead be paid from the lottery fund.
The termination of the agreement on intercantonal cooperation in the area of supra-regional cultural institutions was approved by a vote of 26,926 in favor (55.88%) to 21,258 against (44.12%). The municipalities of Feusisberg, Wollerau and Freienbach, which are most strongly oriented towards Zurich, achieved the highest approval rates of over 60 percent. The bill was rejected in the municipalities of Schwyz and Innerthal.
As part of a relief program, the cantonal government has presented the cantonal council with a package of measures consisting of task waivers, service reductions and burden shifts. One of the measures: in future, services in the area of cultural burden equalization should be paid from the lottery fund instead of the general state budget. To make this possible, the Council applied to withdraw from the cultural burden agreement at the next ordinary termination date at the end of 2021.
With the termination of the cultural burdens agreement, the canton's legal obligation to financially compensate for supra-regional cultural burdens no longer applies. It can therefore relieve its income statement to the tune of around CHF 1.8 million a year. However, cultural professionals fear that this will mean that less money will be available for cantonal cultural promotion from the lottery fund.
