Surplus of 2.3 billion euro for municipalities

Dutch municipalities added 2.3 billion euro to their net assets in 2006. This is over 1.1 billion more than in 2005, when they had a surplus of 1.2 billion euro. The favourable operating surplus was mainly the result of one-off extra income. At the end of 2006 the assets of Dutch municipalities were worth a total of 27.5 billion euro.

Operating surplus of municipalities

One-off revenues

One-off extra revenues amounting to more than 1 billion euro were a main contributor to the large positive operating surplus in municipal coffers. This income came from the sale of a large waste processing plant (Afvalverwerking Rijnmond), dividend payments, the profits from sales of shares in public utilities companies, and the super dividend of 231 million euro paid by the municipal bank (Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten). Lastly, land development put another 900 million euro in the coffers in 2006, 300 million more than in 2005.