It had been apparent for a long time: For the third time in a row, the municipality of Peiting cannot avoid a supplementary budget due to unforeseen expenses.
The council unanimously approved the figures on Tuesday.
Chamberlain Dörthe Schneider found warning words.
Peiting – Dörthe Schneider has headed the finance department of the market town of Peiting since April.
Since then she has often been represented on the municipal council, but without making a big impression.
That changed on Tuesday when Schneider presented the supplementary budget.
"Now you can see that I actually work here," joked the treasurer.
There was indeed a lot to do for Schneider in the past few months, as a look at the figures shows.
Compared to the 2022 budget, which her predecessor Christian Hollrieder was preparing and which was passed last December, there were numerous changes over the course of the year.
On the one hand, they related to unforeseen expenses such as the renovation of the outdoor wave pool, for which 233,000 euros have been earmarked in the budget for this year alone.
The construction of a new hall for the building yard, which was decided at short notice, also has an additional cost of 325,000 euros.
The costs for the development of the new building areas at Bachfeld II and Heimgartenstrasse have not yet been taken into account.
But since the work is to be put out to tender this year, the measures had to be included in the financial planning, explained Schneider.
A total of around one million euros is planned for both projects in 2023.
Rising prices for construction projects
But not only new investments cause additional expenditure.
Rising prices for construction projects and higher costs for the maintenance of properties and vehicles also weigh heavily on the municipal coffers.
For example, 1.5 million euros in additional expenditure are planned for the new kindergarten building on Jägerstrasse in 2023 alone.
In the long run, the municipality also has to dig deeper into its pockets when it comes to its staff.
This year alone, a number of employees were recruited for the ice stadium, the outdoor wave pool, the kindergartens and the Peitingmobile, for which - as in the case of the three ice masters - new positions had to be created in the employment plan.
According to Schneider, the additional expenditure in the administrative budget for staff is around 300,000 euros.
There are trade tax losses.
After taking in 8.2 million euros last year, 7.1 million euros are now expected for 2022 - 200,000 euros less than planned.
After all: With the key allocations with which the Free State supports the municipalities as part of the municipal financial equalization, one could earn 413,000 euros more.
Reserve drops from eight to 1.5 million euros
Because not only the expenses increased significantly, but some construction projects such as the renovation of the ice rink were delayed and the calculated subsidies are only paid out later, the municipality has to withdraw 6.4 instead of 3.2 million euros from the reserve this year.
This is only possible because an amount of 4.5 million euros could be added to the reserve at the end of 2021, explained Schneider, who spoke of a fortunate circumstance.
The reserve thus falls from almost eight to 1.5 million euros.
In view of the development, the treasurer found words of warning at the end of her report.
Because hardly any additional income can be expected and at the same time the price spiral for current and future investments will continue to turn, "restraint" is required when planning the coming budget.
No "crisis situation" yet
Even if you can get by without taking out loans, in the future you have to look carefully at "what we can still afford", agreed Mayor Peter Ostenrieder.
However, one is not yet in a “crisis situation”.
Franz Seidel (BVP) agreed.
All in all, he sees “nothing dramatic” about the supplementary budget.
You only have to keep an eye on the personnel situation, he demanded.
Norbert Merk (CSU) had no reason to worry either.
The good reserve situation has nothing to do with luck, as Schneider put it, he emphasized.
Rather, it shows that the municipal council and administration have managed well in recent years.
No one on the board wanted to disagree.
The supplementary budget was approved unanimously.
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