The money saved on interest will be used by Liberec for the repair of Uranus

Liberec - Liberec has reached an agreement with Česká spořitelna to lower interest rates on its promissory note program. By 2025, it is expected to save nearly 41 million crowns, which the city intends to use for investments. This money could be used to repair the Uran building, which is in a deplorable condition, said Deputy Mayor for Economics Zbyněk Karban (ANO). Currently, the city with a budget of over two billion crowns pays approximately 130 million crowns in interest every year, which should be about six million crowns less starting next year.

In the seven-story Uran building with a steel skeleton near the bus station, about 180 city employees work. The municipal police have a base there, as well as the social care department and part of the transport agenda. According to last year's structural and technical survey, around 150 million crowns is needed for complete renovation. Mayor Jaroslav Zámečník (SLK) previously stated that this exceeds the city's financial capabilities, so only the outer shell, which poses a danger to its surroundings, will be repaired.

There is protective scaffolding around the 1969 building to prevent anything from falling off the façade onto the sidewalk leading to the train station. The cost of reconstructing the façade and replacing the windows of the large municipal building is estimated at 40 million crowns, with repairs scheduled for next year. The new façade is expected to be made of galvanized sheet metal, which will be an unconventional design for the architecture of Liberec.

So far, only the city council has approved the agreement with Česká spořitelna regarding the lower interest rates; it will still be voted on by the city council. According to Karban, the bank conditions the interest rate reduction on the cancellation of the sponsorship commitment for events organized or co-organized by the city. "We will not lose anything, but some entities who were designated for sponsorship might lose something. Overall, this was around 1.5 million crowns annually," Karban stated. At the recommendation of the city council, the bank annually financially supported at least ten sports or cultural events in Liberec and its surroundings. "This does not mean and I do not think that the savings bank will stop providing said sponsorship, but they will not be contractually bound," the deputy added.

Liberec is gradually repaying a two-billion-crown bond it took out in 2010 for 15 years. Thanks to refinancing into the promissory note program, which is more advantageous for the city, the city hall significantly saved on interest compared to the originally negotiated terms in previous years. By 2025, when one billion of the debt is expected to be repaid, the total savings on interest, including the currently negotiated rate, should be around 340 million crowns. Currently, the debt per resident of Liberec amounts to 18,419 CZK, and at the end of last year, Liberec's debt was 1.65 billion crowns.