Fierce debate about money in the district council: is it realism or "mongering"?
Created: 02/11/2022, 08:00
By: Sebastian Tauchnitz
The district earns a lot of money, but spends even more.
(symbolic image) © symbolic photo: Federico Gambarini /dpa
It is not as bad as feared, but the coming years will be extremely difficult - this is how the debate on the supplementary budget for 2022 in the district council can be summarized.
District
– In the end, only two district councilors voted against the supplementary budget, but there was a lot to discuss – especially with a view to the future.
It was largely agreed that the figures presented by District Treasurer Norbert Merk and his staff were very solid and comprehensible.
It was noted with a certain relief that the district's debt level at the end of the year would not be just under 80 million euros, but only a good 67 million euros.
The reason for this is a significantly better end of the 2021 budget year, as reported by district treasurer Merk.
This brought Manuel Neulinger (Greens/Weilheim) to the conclusion that the financial situation of the district "is ultimately more solid than is always reported".
The prospects are not nearly as bad.
He warned district treasurer Norbert Merk not to "paint so much black" so as not to "send false messages to the outside world".
Outsiders could otherwise get the impression that the financial situation of the district is "devastating".
However, Neulinger's view was not shared by the other participants in the debate.
District councilors are calling for resistance to the federal government's (new) regulation frenzy
"This is not black painting, these are clear facts," said Michael Asam (SPD/Peiting).
You have to fight against the fact that the federal and state governments are always transferring new tasks to the districts, which then have to shoulder the associated financial costs on their own.
Franz Seidl (BfL/Peiting) was even clearer: "We have to assume that the 2024 budget can no longer be approved," he said.
He was referring to the fact that the district would not even be able to pay its loan installments in two years without taking on new debt.
One finally has to rethink politically in order to steer the finances on safe paths, said Seidl.
"Otherwise we'll have a huge problem in the future," said Seidl, referring to Neulinger's statements.
District Treasurer: "Expenditure grows faster than revenue"
Merk commented that although additional income can certainly be expected in the coming years due to higher tax revenue, "we don't have the money that we take in more because the expenses are growing faster than the income".
Michael Marksteiner (Weilheim) said for the parliamentary group of the Free Voters: "We slipped from one crisis to the next." He attested to the Weilheim-Schongau GmbH hospital that it was "now in a very good state".
Further major investments are therefore no longer possible in view of the forthcoming referendum and the financial situation of the district.
He, too, rejected new hires at the district office to do tasks that were decided on at the federal and state levels.
The money that you save as a result should rather be invested in the security and equipment of the schools.
Maiken Winter: "Not only do we need a money budget, but also a binding CO2 budget"
In view of the large increase in offers at the hospital, Markus Kunzendorf (ÖDP/Oberhausen) criticized the fact that "it was never discussed what we as a district council really want to offer in our two hospitals".
He also referred to the specific proposals that the parliamentary group of the ÖPD/independents had submitted to improve the financial situation of the district: the concentration of hospital care in one location, while the Weilheim hospital is to be converted into the new district office (we reported) .
Kunzendorf went on to say that the decision was made to renovate the gymnasium at the high school in Weilheim at low cost and not to build it again at great expense.
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Maiken Winter (ÖDP/Raisting) had the final word, noting that the budget debate is always about money.
Just like a money budget, the district also needs a CO2 budget that it has to stick to.
The district administrator agreed, but admitted that it might be more complicated than that.
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