As of: February 22, 2024, 6:44 a.m
By: Teresa Toth
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The city of Hürth in North Rhine-Westphalia no longer collects radio contributions.
The WDR now has to do this on its own initiative.
What is behind the decision?
Hürth – “The city of Hürth no longer enforces broadcasting contributions”.
This is what it says in large black letters on the website of the North Rhine-Westphalian city.
Enforcement of broadcasting fees is usually the responsibility of the states, municipalities or municipalities.
ARD and ZDF explain this on their website
Rundfunkteil.de
.
However, different rules seem to apply to Hürth.
Since the beginning of the year, WDR has had to enforce the broadcasting fees itself
In a press release, the city made it clear that responsibility had changed.
Until the end of 2023, Hürth will ensure that all citizens pay their broadcasting fees.
But: “Since January 1st, 2024, the city of Hürth has no longer carried out any enforcement measures for WDR,” says the official statement.
There are always discussions and disagreements in the context of broadcasting fees - recently there was talk of an increase.
Broadcasting fees
The monthly broadcasting fee currently amounts to 18.36 euros for a household.
There is currently discussion about increasing it to 18.94 euros per month.
Instead of the city, WDR now has to ensure that all outstanding broadcasting bills are paid.
“Responsibility (has) been with WDR since January 1, 2024,” the city’s letter continues.
The background is a circular from the Ministry of Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia, which was passed in agreement with the State Chancellery as well as the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of the Interior.
The change in responsibility for broadcasting fees is a “welcome relief”
This means: As of this year, the city of Hürth is no longer responsible for enforcing broadcasting fees.
Responsibility for all other cities in North Rhine-Westphalia now also lies with WDR itself - much to the joy of the cities.
“The abolition of enforcement for WDR means a very welcome relief,” writes the city of Eschweiler on its website.
Until now, each city was responsible for enforcing broadcasting fees.
However, starting this year, that is no longer the case.
© UJ Alexander/imago
This is due, among other things, to the fact that the flat-rate cost contribution per enforcement request – currently 37 euros – does not cover the actual costs and workload.
In addition, up to now one employee only had to be made redundant for enforcement matters.
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While there is reason to be happy for some cities, a large proportion of citizens are concerned about the possible increase in broadcasting fees.
A survey shows that the majority already think the broadcasting fee is too high.
Tenants have at least had one other innovation to look forward to since the beginning of the year: they now have a free choice when it comes to TV reception.
(tt)