On Tuesday evening, deliberations on the city budget began in the main and finance committee of the city council.
The initial deficit of just under eleven million euros fell significantly in the course of the meeting - with the result that numerous projects were postponed to subsequent years.
Starnberg - a few thousand euros here, several hundred thousand euros there - when Mayor Patrick Janik and treasurer Thomas Deller tipped the bill at the end of the meeting on Tuesday evening, there were around 2.5 million euros.
That was how much the members of the City Council's main and finance committee had saved in the more than three hours before.
After the first round about the city budget, Janik thanked him for "the constructive advice".
The second round will continue on February 8th.
Savings are needed - deficit of 10.9 million euros
The savings are necessary - because Deller's draft had a deficit of 10.9 million euros at the beginning of the meeting.
This time, the gap in coverage is exclusively in the asset budget, which contains the planned investments.
The administrative budget, from which the running costs are covered, closes with a plus of 112,000 euros.
"We're on more than one black zero here," said Deller.
In the past year, this part of the budget in particular was a problem, which, among other things, led to tax and fee increases.
The fact that things are getting better now depends on several factors, including the one-time compensation payment from the Free State for corona-related lower trade tax income (five million euros net) and a savings marathon by the administration.
In several meetings it was possible to save three million euros in the administrative budget.
"We have squeezed out everything that is in our power," said Deller in the committee.
In relation to the Starnberger Merkur, he specified: Personnel costs alone could have been reduced by 940,000 euros, there are six-digit savings in building maintenance, and there are many small amounts.
“There's nothing to complain about” - City councilors satisfied
The thanks from the councilors were evident.
"They make it boring for us when we can't emphasize anything," praised Marc Fiedler (FDP).
"There's nothing to complain about," emphasized Thomas Beigel (CSU).
After only a little over twenty minutes, the administrative budget with a volume of around 75 million euros was completed.
But the big push and pull started in the property budget.
200,000 euros for renovation measures at the Starnberg elementary school: postponed to next year.
200,000 euros in planning costs for the extension of the Percha elementary school: cut by half.
80,000 euros for renovation measures at the middle school: cut by a third.
50,000 euros for new e-charging stations in the city: reduced by half.
590,000 euros for the renovation of the music school: completely canceled because 90,000 euros are still available from the previous year.
100,000 euros for the renovation of the Hirschanger kindergarten: 80 percent postponed to next year.
400,000 euros for the refurbishment of the FT sports grounds on Ottostraße: postponed until next year.
551,000 euros for new acquisitions at the depot: reduced by 67,000 euros because a mower for wildflower areas will not be purchased this year.
And so on.
Almost all resolutions unanimously
Almost all resolutions were passed unanimously.
And even if one or the other measure hurt individual city councilors or the administration: Particularly when it comes to construction matters, even in the town hall there were doubts as to whether all of the capacity could be afforded at all.
The deficit is currently 8.5 million euros.
That should shrink further in two and a half weeks, when the city councils meet for the next consultation and, among other things, talk about the planned road construction work.
And then the administration and the city council should use a permissible set-off in order to gain air for themselves financially.
It is about the so-called household leftovers.
This is money that was planned and financed in the 2020 budget but not spent.
Contrary to the practice of past years, these are now to be largely dissolved - the money would then flow into the general reserves, where it is in turn available for investments.
Due to the almost five million euros from the Free State and the dissolution of budget remnants, according to Deller, the reserves will increase by 5.36 million euros to 6.36 million euros at the end of the 2020 budget year - "provided the city council fully follows the proposals of the administration".
