Starnberg budget with 11 million deficit: "Nobody can be happy with that"
Created: 02/24/2022, 06:59 am
By: Peter Schiebel
The financial situation of the city of Starnberg is critical: by 2025, for example, there is a risk of debts increasing fivefold (symbol image).
© Daniel Reinhardt
Despite a deficit of 11.6 million euros, the city of Starnberg's budget received a large majority in the city council.
But there were also critical voices.
Starnberg - There was a lot of thanks, either for the administration and the parliamentary groups.
There were many admonishing words along the lines of "It can't go on like this".
And in the end there was a large majority in the city council with 18:9 votes for the budget for the current year.
And yet, at the end of the one-hour budget debate on Monday evening, one feeling remained, which Mayor Patrick Janik put it like this: "Nobody can be happy with this budget." looking to the future, however, the city has a problem.
"We will have to ask ourselves uncomfortable questions."
Debt threatens to quintuple by 2025
In the total budget of 96.7 million euros, there is still a gap of 11.6 million euros.
Half of this is covered by the withdrawal of reserves (5.9 million euros) and the taking on of new debts (5.7 million euros).
However, it will only become clear in the course of the year whether loans will actually have to be taken out.
If, for example, more millions in taxes flow than Treasurer Thomas Deller had planned (21.0 million euros for income tax, 18.4 million euros for trade tax) or if not all available funds are accessed by the administration, borrowing could be reduced.
Starnberg currently has debts of 8.4 million euros - fewer than it has been for more than thirty years.
However, according to current planning, these could increase almost fivefold to 40.2 million euros by 2025.
And that doesn't even include significant sums for the construction of kindergartens, for the Bayerischer Hof, the VHS, the music school or the lake connection, as Thomas Beigel (CSU) calculated.
The city council, administration and citizens would have to reduce the sense of entitlement, he demanded.
After all, almost half of the expenses (20.8 million euros district levy, 19.3 million euros personnel costs) “almost cannot be influenced”.
FDP relies on Schorn, SPD criticizes colleagues
Winfried Wobbe (UWG) was already thinking aloud about raising user fees, rents and leases.
And a care ratio of 8.5 children per caregiver in the municipal day-care centers is downright “luxury” in view of a cost recovery rate of only 40 percent.
In general, new positions should be "clearly" questioned.
"It's not fun," said Marc Fiedler (FDP) with a view to the current figures and the future.
After numerous projects have already been postponed to the coming years and there is still a shortfall, it is clear that income must be increased.
"And we will only be able to do that if we achieve more trade tax." Fiedler is primarily focusing on the planned new commercial area in Schorn, which has to be advanced step by step.
At the same time, it is important to take a critical look at the expenditure.
Christiane Falk (SPD) found clearer words and also questioned her colleagues' willingness to save.
She would have liked a third round of negotiations in the main and finance committees in order to muster the courage to cancel projects entirely in a "joint effort," she said.
However, the committee ended the deliberations in mid-January at the request of the CSU.
Michael Mignoli (BLS) confessed that he would be “anxious and worried” about the financial planning up to 2025.
He also relies on Schorn and, regardless of this, called for the process flows in administration to be optimised.
Despite everything, WPS City Councilor Raphael Felber looked to the future with confidence.
"I'm hopeful that in a year the numbers will look better," he said.
Despite the necessary savings measures, investments must be made in a targeted manner - above all in infrastructure and employees.
Green: There are no miracles from Schorn
Harsche Kritik äußerte Grünen-Fraktionschef Dr. Franz Sengl, der in einer denkwürdigen Pressekonferenz vor knapp vier Wochen bereits mit der Starnberger Finanzpolitik abgerechnet hatte und daraufhin von Patrick Janik in den Senkel gestellt worden war. Die Grünen seien „auf zu viele Dinge gestoßen, die wir uns nicht erklären können“, sagte er und nannte als Beispiel die Stromkosten, die mal mit einem deutlichen, mal mit gar keinem Preisanstieg kalkuliert seien. Was ihn noch viel mehr ärgerte: „Es wird höchste Zeit, dass wir unsere Prioritäten neu festlegen.“ Seeanbindung, Kinderbetreuung, Mobilitätswende, Bekämpfung des Artensterbens – für all das sei kein Geld vorhanden. Und „die Hoffnung auf das Wunder von Schorn“ werde sich auch nicht erfüllten, mutmaßte er. Denn Gewerbesteuer werde dort frühestens in zehn Jahren fließen. Sengls Fazit: „Bei einem Unternehmen würde man von bedrohlicher Insolvenz reden.“ Neben der SPD lehnten auch die Grünen den Haushalt ab.
The BMS agreed - although Eva Pfister stated that she was "not happy" and that the politics depicted did not reflect her positions.
The budget was "characterized by project snags, real estate speculation and wrong priorities," she criticized, citing accessibility as an example, which is no longer important.
She also did not see the catastrophic budgetary situation invoked by other speakers; instead, Pfister warned against "ruthless savings".
Starnberg still has a high tax base, only a few debts and great companies.
Janik is thinking about the city council retreat
The future will have to show how things will continue with the finances, whether the majority of the city council will follow the self-formulated wish for moderation and the setting of priorities.
Eva Pfister has already called for time to work out the strategy for the coming years instead of deleting individual items worth hundreds or thousands of euros.
Patrick Janik brought up a city council meeting to think about the future together.
In any case, the current budget is “a means to an end to keep us able to work”.
