Which places in the region are poor and which are rich?

District municipalities at the "Finanz-TÜV"

Created: 05/16/2022, 08:03

By: Sebastian Tauchnitz

The amount of the district levy also depends on how much money a municipality has.

© DPA

Before the district council determines how much money the individual communities have to pay to the district in the current year, they have to go to the "Finanz-TÜV".

From this it can be deduced which communities are rich and which are relatively poor.

County – The debate is always fierce when it comes to the county levy.

There are many reasons for this.

First of all, that many mayors also sit in the district council.

And so they have to decide for themselves how much money they make available to the district so that it can fulfill its tasks.

Money that they then lack in their community.

But the secondary schools do not support themselves, the district roads also lead through their communities, the staff would like their money on time and only very few want to do without the Weilheim-Schongau GmbH hospital.

Nowhere else in Bavaria do communities pay as much as in Weilheim-Schongau

Still, the grumbling grows louder every year.

All municipalities in Bavaria pay the district levy.

Just nowhere as much as in the Weilheim-Schongau district.

The assessment rate is 54 percent and thus almost five percent above the value that the cities and communities in the Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen district, for example, have to shell out.

The municipalities also grumble about the fact that the levy force in the district has increased.

To put it very simply: the economy was booming despite the pandemic, taxes were paid properly, and the surcharge increased by around 10.5 percent.

However, the district levy remains fixed at 54 percent.

In concrete terms, this means: Although the percentage remains the same, the municipalities transfer around 9.5 million euros more than in the previous year to the district office, a total of around 99.5 million euros.

The fact that the district's mountain of debt continues to rise from year to year and has meanwhile reached dizzying heights is causing additional grief among the district councillors.

(By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular Weilheim-Penzberg newsletter.)

Since 2018, the district council has been examining the finances of all municipalities

In the corresponding draft resolution, district treasurer Norbert Merk elegantly puts a stop to the relevant debates by calculating how much the district levy would have to be paid if the district were not to incur debt and still invest as planned: 61 percent.

However, hardly any municipality in the district could afford that.

Because in such cases the municipalities often and loudly complain and claim that the immense district levy means that there is no money left to do their own work, the district decided in 2018 to measure the financial capacity of each of the 34 municipalities in the district for a year scrutinized year after year.

A number of criteria are taken into account.

Tax revenue, debt level, repayment, requirement allocations and much more.

Quasi a financial TÜV for the individual town halls.

In the end, the individual communities are finally divided into one of three categories.

Which community is rather rich, which rather poor?

- Division into categories

Category 1 are the municipalities in which the district levy at the current level has no effect on the minimum financial resources in the opinion of the district finance department.

These include Altenstadt, Hohenfurch, Huglfing, Iffeldorf, Oberhausen, Pähl, the market town of Peiting, the city of Penzberg and the communities of Polling, Rottenbuch, Schwabsoien and Wessobrunn.

These are – even if the mayor would certainly deny it – the “money” municipalities in the district.

The 'average earners' are in Category 2. This lists those communities where the impact, if any, is likely to be negligible.

This affects Antdorf, Bernbeuren, Bernried, Böbing, Burggen, Eberfing, Eglfing, Habach, Hohenpeissenberg, Ingenried, Obersöchering, the market town of Peißenberg, the communities of Raisting and Prem, the town of Schongau, Schwabbruck, Seeshaupt, Sindelsdorf, Steingaden, the town of Weilheim and the municipalities of Wielenbach and Wildsteig.

District surcharge remains at 54 percent in the current year

Finally, category 3 would be the municipalities in which the minimum financial resources of the municipality are still given despite possible restrictions due to the district levy.

The TÜV inspector would take a very close look here.

However, in 2022 not a single municipality in the district was assigned to this group.

In the end, all this work means that the district can state that the district allocation, although the highest in the Free State, will not pose any existential problems for the communities.

As a result, a majority of the district councils voted in the end for the 2022 budget and thus also for maintaining the district levy at 54 percent in the current year.