The business plan of Stadtwerke Dachau for 2022 is a million euro work.
One of the main items: the new indoor pool.
Dachau - Stadtwerke boss Robert Haimerl has presented his economic plan for the year 2022 to the city council.
The company is investing millions in the power grid and wastewater disposal.
The construction of the new indoor swimming pool, however, remains the largest item of expenditure.
The CSU agreed with reservations, the SPD without. In the end, the vote in the works committee of the city council on the business plan presented by Stadtwerke boss Robert Haimerl was unanimous. Volker C. Koch thought: “The municipal utilities are doing a good job!” In difficult times, the company would “achieve a great deal”. Sure, the investments to be shouldered are enormous and the debt level is high. But, Koch concluded: You don't have to “give an alarm yet”, the debt is therefore “not insane”.
In fact, the business plan for the coming year shows a minus: calculated income of around 81 million euros is offset by expenses of an estimated 83 million euros.
Stadtwerke intends to invest a total of 23.4 million euros in the coming year.
But this requires loans: 22.5 million euros are in the municipal utilities plan.
According to Haimerl, the gas and electricity business is stable and both are “reliable sources of income”.
The Dachau municipal utilities also earn money with heating, and the plant manager calls the result “satisfactory”.
With the chronically loss-making transport company, Haimerl hopes that the shortfall in the coming year will be at least lower than in previous years. However, it is questionable whether this pious wish will come true: In Corona times, fewer people recently took the city buses than hoped. The ten-minute intervals enforced by the city council in May 2020 - against the explicit request of Mayor Florian Hartmann - ensured that brand-new buses empty through the city (we reported). Haimerl's employee, who was supposed to give the councilors a detailed report on the situation of the bus operation, was absent from the meeting on Tuesday due to illness; But Haimerl already indicated: "A pandemic is not conducive to business for local public transport."
According to Haimerl, the focus of investment is as follows: 8.9 million euros are to flow into the construction of the new indoor swimming pool, 4 million euros for the electricity network and 1.7 million euros for the expansion of the gas network.
The municipal utilities intend to invest 1.3 million euros in the new construction of a so-called process water treatment facility and the expansion of the network.
Public utilities earn money with e-mobility
Basically, stressed Stadtwerke boss Robert Haimerl, "electromobility is gaining momentum". AfD city councilor Markus Kellerer then had a question about this: whether there is “awareness of the problem” at the municipal utilities in view of the frequent reports of burning e-cars? Plant manager Haimerl reacted calmly. The expansion of e-mobility is politically wanted, which is why it is difficult to enforce not to let e-cars drive into city parking garages because of the potential fire hazard, for example. Basically, the reason for the fires is not the charging infrastructure anyway, but the batteries. In this respect, it is also "the task of the manufacturer to build the cars safely". It is true that the state government will publish a reform of the Bavarian garage regulations with regard to e-cars in the medium term.But, according to Haimerl, “I don't know” exactly where the journey is going.
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In particular, the maintenance measures in the water supply and wastewater disposal would - according to the planning figures - lead to the annual result in the coming year ending with 2 million euros in the red.
The debt ratio was "almost constant" in the past few years at around 20 percent, but in 2022 "a significant increase can be expected".
Speaking of the increase: City Councilor Markus Kellerer (AfD) worried about the future development of fees in view of the planned investment in wastewater disposal, after all, the municipal utilities, as a municipal company, are legally obliged to cover their costs.
Haimerl was not able to answer the question of a possible fee increase "as of today".
A representative of the Bavarian municipal auditing association will look at the data and figures and calculate the fees.
“Possibly”, however, there could actually be an increase in fees.
