The German-speaking cantons voted on Sunday on several cantonal issues. In Solothurn, there will be no cap on the number of state personnel as required by an initiative of the PLR, supported by the UDC. In Schwyz, the solar installation project in Oberiberg in the Ybrig region will also not see the light of day.
Solothurns refuse the cap on state personnel
The “so slim, so strong” initiative called for state personnel to be limited to one civil servant per 85 residents. Voters rejected it by 55%. They followed the advice of the authorities, the Center, the PVL and the left. Participation was 54.9%.
Reduction of benefits
The text provided that if the ceiling in question was exceeded, the canton would have to reduce its size within two years, through the non-renewal of vacant positions. However, this level is currently already exceeded by around 150 jobs.
According to the Solothurn government and the majority of the cantonal parliament, the elimination of these positions would have led to a massive reduction in state benefits. Certain costs risked being outsourced without the mandated companies benefitting from any economic benefit, or transferred to the municipalities.
Debate on the effectiveness of the State
Furthermore, a personnel cap does not take into account the structural evolution of the population and the societal demands linked to it, denounced the authorities. And to add that Solothurn is in 5th place among the slenderest cantons – and therefore the most efficient – in relation to the number of inhabitants.
According to the initiators and their supporters, there is potential for savings to be made in the cantonal administration, whose constantly increasing costs weigh on taxpayers. The text was to force the authorities to question certain services and to make work processes more efficient. It also aimed to improve the economic attractiveness of the canton.
The PLR initiative was supported by the UDC. The Green Liberals supported the principle of a counter-project. The latter having been rejected by the Grand Council, the PVL deputies then joined the “yes” camp, before the party delegates finally recommended the rejection of the text.
No to the Oberiberg solar power plant (SZ)
No alpine solar installations may be built in the Ybrig region in the canton of Schwyz. The citizens of Oberiberg rejected the Axpo power plant project on Sunday.
The citizens of Oberiberg rejected the Alpin Solar Ybrig project by 51.1% (261 votes to 250). Participation reached 78.4%. Opponents feared too much damage to the landscape.
The installation planned on the Roggenegg mountain pasture, at an altitude of 1,600 meters, would have had an area of around ten hectares. It would have been connected to the network by a 1.8 km line. The expected production would have been the equivalent of the annual consumption of the municipality of Oberiberg, including shops and the ski area.
ats/juma