Stefan Deingruber has mastered his premiere.
The central message from the head of the town hall at the citizens' meeting: Fischbachau has big plans, but cannot afford everything at once.
Fischbachau
– As the millions continued to add up over the course of the Fischbachau town hall meeting, the head of the town hall checked with the treasurer Veronika Rauscher to be on the safe side: “We don’t have a cash cow in the basement, do we?” Stefan Deingruber (CSU) asked with a smile.
"Unfortunately I haven't found him yet," Rauscher replied cheerfully.
And so the mayor stuck to the strategy that he had repeated like a mantra for all cost-intensive projects and also the applications of the citizens: "Prioritize and work through one after the other."
At his premiere at the lectern, Deingruber took the fact that the monastery hall was more than two-thirds full with listeners as a sign of the interest of the citizens in the further development of the community.
Then he took another deep breath before starting his brisk ride through the topics with a motivating “pack ma's”.
More residents, fewer guest beds
Before it went to the Euros, Deingruber presented a few other metrics.
And they proved that Fischbachau is quite dynamic.
The population jumped from 6142 to 6276 from 2021 to 2022.
The head of the town hall attributed this to new living space in Wörnsmühl and Fischbachau.
As a result, however, the demand for schools and kindergartens would also increase, which would force the community to expand the Elbach elementary school and the Fischbachau kindergarten.
The head of the town hall, on the other hand, is concerned about the continuing loss of beds for tourists.
From 1532 in 2010 only 999 remain today.
"Scary," thought Deingruber.
"Without beds, there are no guests." Here one has to consider how this trend can be reversed.
Meanwhile, a planned trend reversal is to take place in debt.
Deingruber announced that the sale of land in the new residential area at Wolfsee, which is still being developed, will mean that a loan of 2.2 million euros will be repaid this year.
The others might not because of the low interest rates.
Furthermore, the municipality will build up reserves with the income in order to be prepared for the high expenses in the coming years (even without a cash cow in the basement).
Mega project flood protection
This includes, above all, the mega-project flood protection.
At the request of a citizen, Deingruber explained that the government of Upper Bavaria is currently examining the planning for the Leitzach.
Although the municipality "only" has to bear 30 percent of the costs here, a quick glance at the calculation shocked him, according to the mayor.
Fischbachau has to adjust to more than 3.5 million euros.
In addition, there would be the measure on the Aurach, which would have to be completely shouldered by the municipality, which would swallow between 4.2 and 6.4 million euros depending on the variant.
A "Bahnhof" or "Locomotive" themed playground in Aurach and the toilet facility at Hammer station are already included in the budget for 2023 as a replacement for the existing dixi toilet.
But here, too, the submitted offers had significantly exceeded the planned costs, so that the municipal council had to decide again.
Pump track gets more complicated
This also applies to the pump track in Fischbachau, the realization of which has further complicated.
The previously announced location is in the floodplain of the Leitzach, but a shift in the direction of a residential area makes an acoustic investigation necessary, Deingruber sighed.
Since the Leader funding can no longer be drilled out afterwards, the municipality's own contribution has risen from 40,000 to 73,000 euros.
The municipal council must decide whether it still wants to stick to its promise for the project, the mayor made clear and allowed himself to point out that other municipalities would involve their citizens in the (also financial) realization.
A resident was happy to pick up the ball: “Would such a cooperation be conceivable for you?” she asked Deingruber.
He passed the question on to the council members present.
The answer: a promising nod.
Combined with the hope that the pump track has a chance even without a gold donkey.
so called