The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Record budget: Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen district is investing more than ever before

2021-10-27T15:14:07.434Z


It is a record budget: never in its history has the district invested more money. Over 26.5 million will flow primarily into schools in the coming year. This will not be possible without borrowing - or by placing a greater burden on the communities.


It is a record budget: never in its history has the district invested more money.

Over 26.5 million will flow primarily into schools in the coming year.

This will not be possible without borrowing - or by placing a greater burden on the communities.

Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen

- Traditionally in October, District Administrator Josef Niedermaier brings the district budget for the coming year to the district council.

There is no discussion about it - that will follow in the specialist committees in the next few weeks.

And there are likely to be tough discussions, because every further expenditure must be counter-financed.

"It was definitely easier to set up a household, but maybe it was harder," said Niedermaier on Monday.

A large part of the investment goes into schools

The district is investing 26.5 million euros in the coming year - more than ever before.

Around 24 million of this flow into schools - including the Wolfratshausen secondary school (5.6 million), the Geretsrieder school center (7.7 million) and the renovation of the swimming pool in the Tölzer secondary school (1.4 million).

"By the way, we will spend almost four million on retrofitting ventilation systems," said Niedermaier.

It is important to implement the ambitious renovation program as planned.

Once, so as not to provoke an investment backlog.

On the other hand, because the construction costs are constantly increasing.

"The prices will definitely not get cheaper in the future."

The expansion of public transport is one of the great challenges for the future

Great challenges await the district in the next few years as well.

"We have decided to start a mobility and traffic turnaround and that means to invest significantly in local public transport." The strategy for this is shown in the local transport plan that has just been adopted.

In the coming year, the district will invest around 1.6 million euros more in bus connections than this year.

Further projects are planned.

11.5 new jobs applied for - three new employees should take care of digitization

Apropos being considered: The budget does not currently include the 11.5 additional positions in the district administration that have been applied for.

The youth welfare office and civil protection, among others, have registered the need.

However, three new positions are also to be created in the IT area, which will, among other things, take care of the digitization of schools.

Deficit compensation for the hospital in the amount of 2.6 million euros

In contrast, the deficit compensation for the district clinic is planned.

2.6 million euros are in the budget for this.

Plus 1.5 million euros deficit compensation for obstetrics.

“We will see what accents the new federal government will set when it comes to financing basic and standard providers.

There are plenty of full-bodied announcements, ”said Niedermaier.

Of course, he hopes that the services offered will be better remunerated in the future.

"In view of the billions in the budget of the health insurance funds, I am skeptical." He is still "firmly convinced that we have to advance the cooperation with the hospitals in the region in order to secure the Wolfratshausen clinic in the long term".

Collect more money from communities or take out loans

All of this expenditure and investment must be financed. The district gets a large part of the money through the district levy from the cities and municipalities. For this purpose, he sets a rate of assessment every year, which - roughly speaking - specifies what percentage of their income the municipalities have to pass on to the district. It is 47.5 percent this year, two percentage points more are planned for the coming year. However, Niedermaier would prefer "to increase the district levy even more", to take out fewer loans and thus "to use the leeway for debt in the coming, in my eyes much more difficult years."

The municipalities would hardly like a further increase in the tax rate.

Because of Corona, their income, for example in the case of income tax participation, is no longer as abundant.

However, says Niedermaier when asked, "over half of our communities are debt-free".

New indebtedness in the district is only increasing moderately

At the moment, six million euros in new loans are planned in the draft budget.

However, 2.9 million euros in loans are also being repaid, so that the district's debt is only increasing moderately.

In any case, the district has continuously reduced the mountain of debt to almost 26 million euros over the past few years, thus creating room for maneuver.

Loans, district levy and a probably quite high key allocation from the state are not enough for the record investment: The district also needs four million euros from the reserves and thus empties the savings bag almost completely.

Therefore, it will not go without further debt in the years to come.

"Ten million are available as a loan for the coming years," said Niedermaier.

The discussions in the specialist committees will now take place in December.

At the beginning of 2022, the district council will finally decide on the figures.

Bad Tölz newsletter:

Everything from your region!

Our Bad Tölz newsletter informs you regularly about all the important stories from the Bad Tölz region - including all the news about the corona crisis in your community.

Sign up here.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-10-27

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-29T18:17:23.260Z
News/Politics 2024-02-03T11:11:56.120Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.