Typically, the budgeted revenues and expenses are slightly lower than the actual revenues and expenses in the annual accounts. The difference is usually larger for revenues than for expenses. In 2023, Dutch municipalities collectively spent 75.1 billion euros, while revenues amounted to 76.7 billion euros. This resulted in an operating balance before allocation of 1.6 billion euros.

Municipalities Budget Higher Expenses Across All Policy Areas

Expenses are rising across all policy areas compared to the 2024 budget. More than a quarter of the total expenses of Dutch municipalities are accounted for by the Social Domain Other policy area, which includes costs related to the Social Support Act (WMO), youth care, social work, domestic violence prevention, and refugee reception. The budgeted expenses for this policy area rise from 18.4 billion euros to 20.5 billion euros, an increase of 11.2 percent.

For Income Arrangements and Participation, 13.4 billion euros are budgeted, compared to 12.5 billion euros in 2024. This increase is partly due to the increase in the statutory minimum wage, which affects the level of social assistance benefits provided by municipalities.

For the policy areas of Security, Economy, and Public Health and Environment, approximately 9 percent more is budgeted than a year earlier. The increase in expenses for the Security policy area is due to wage increases and the deployment of more enforcers by several large cities, the earthquake issues in the province of Groningen, and the celebration of Amsterdams 750th anniversary. The higher expenses in the Economy policy area are related to investments in city centers and other shopping areas. Spending on public health is increasing mainly due to various specific grants that municipalities receive from the national government, such as the Integrated Care Agreement (IZA) and the Healthy and Active Living Agreement (GALA). Finally, the increase in environmental management expenses is largely due to climate policy and the energy transition. Municipalities also partially finance these expenditures with specific grants, such as the Capacity Decentralized Governments for Climate and Energy Policy (CDOKE).

Municipalities Budget Higher Revenues from Specific National Grants

The municipalities have budgeted 79.3 billion euros in revenues for 2025. The revenues of municipalities consist of municipal fund allocations, income from municipal taxes, and other revenues. Other revenues include specific national grants, rents and leases, capital gains from the sale of shares, interest and dividend income, and transfers from other governments than the national government.

For 2025, municipalities budget 44.7 billion euros in revenues from the municipal fund, 14.4 billion euros in income from municipal taxes, and 20.2 billion euros in other revenues. The percentage increase in other revenues was 9.8 percent, larger than that of revenues from the municipal fund (5.7 percent) and taxes (8.0 percent). This is mainly because more income from specific national grants is budgeted.