The town hall keeps growing: 817 more posts, twice the cost – and nothing budgeted for AI

A little more town hall every year

The figures do not come from critics but from the city’s own budget plan.^[1] In 2014 there were 9.87 posts in the city administration for every 1,000 Paderborn residents. In 2026 there are 14.23. That is an increase of 44 per cent – and without a single year’s pause: since 2014 the figure has risen every year, thirteen times in a row. The number of posts grew from 1,432.6 to 2,249.6. The population over the same period rose only from 145,176 to a projected 158,044, that is by almost 9 per cent.

The administration has grown six times as fast as the population.

Spending has almost doubled

In 2014 the city spent 341 million euros in its operating budget. In 2026 it is to be 674 million euros – an increase of 98 per cent.^[1][2] Prices rose by around 30 per cent over the same period.^[5] Staff and pension costs grew even more strongly than total spending: from 87.8 to 182.4 million euros, that is by 108 per cent. Per inhabitant that is around 1,154 euros in 2026; in 2014 it was 605 euros.

All the years at a glance

Actuals from the annual accounts for 2014 to 2024, 2025 and 2026 budget figures. The annual result for 2020 to 2024 follows the 2026 preliminary report after isolation of coronavirus effects, and for 2025 and 2026 after deducting the flat-rate reduction requirement. Staff and pensions means staff and pension expenditure including provisions. Posts are established posts according to the establishment plan.^[1][2]

Debt: from 1,488 to 3,875 euros per inhabitant

For a long time Paderborn counted as solid. In 2019 the borrowing of the city and its municipal operations stood at 1,488 euros per inhabitant. For the end of 2026 the city plans 3,875 euros – 2.6 times as much.^[1]

At the same time equity is melting away. The city’s reserves are to fall from 665 million euros at the end of 2024 to 454 million euros by 2029, a decline of almost 32 per cent.^[1] Without counter-measures the consultants at PD reckon on negative equity from 2032 and minus 544 million euros by 2037.^[3]

Budget consolidation – and more posts all the same

According to the budget plan the city and the district agree that a budget consolidation plan from 2027 is “unavoidable”.^[1] For 2025 the city was already planning a deficit of 56 million euros – and created 77 additional posts in the same year. In 2026 another 10 posts are added. Spending rises in 2026 to 674 million euros and, according to the financial plan, is to climb to 712 million euros by 2029.^[1]

PD proposes cutting around 390 full-time posts by 2037 through natural turnover, spread over eleven years.^[3] Since 2019 alone, however, 442 posts have been added.^[1] So even if the plan is implemented in full, Paderborn would have more posts in 2037 than in 2019. The report also contains the measure “expanded use of AI” – with a consolidation contribution of “/”. Not a single euro is quantified.^[3]

What speaks for the city

Fairness requires this: part of the increase is not in the city’s hands alone. The legal entitlement to childcare places, all-day schooling, the fire protection plan and collective pay settlements drive the costs. The childcare staff alone cost around 40.5 million euros in 2026. PD too wants to exempt day-care centres and the fire service from any reduction of posts.^[1][3]

Commentary: in the age of AI, Paderborn is adding posts rather than cutting them

From here on this is assessment, not finding. The commentary, the worked example and the demands set out the view of this editorial team. The figures in them are documented as everywhere else; the conclusions drawn from them are not.

While many companies have long been rebuilding their administration with artificial intelligence, the Paderborn town hall plans in eleven-year steps. Yet assessments of the potential exist: according to McKinsey, generative AI could cut the staff requirement in the public service by up to a third, and local authorities would benefit particularly, it says expressly.^[6] With AI agents that handle cases independently, the same firm considers halving the additional staff requirement possible.^[7] The Bundestag’s research service points to a study according to which AI can provide support in around 70 per cent of administrative jobs.^[8]

In practice little of this happens in local authorities: according to an analysis by the German Economic Institute from 2025, only 0.3 per cent of municipal job advertisements had any reference to AI at all.^[9] Paderborn is no exception – in the establishment plan the posts grow, and in the savings plan AI has a slash beside it.

Four demands follow from this. First a freeze on posts: no new posts outside childcare and the fire service until the budget consolidation plan is adopted. Second an AI target in euros, that is a binding, quantified savings target through AI and automation in the 2027 budget, with an annual report to the council. Third a target figure for posts per inhabitant: back to the 2019 level, 11.9 per 1,000, by 2030. Fourth transparency: annual publication of posts, staff costs and AI projects by department.