It was clear to the listeners who had come to the information evening of the citizens' initiative (BI) Irschenberg that the new sewage treatment plant in the municipality of Irschenberg would not be available free of charge for the citizens.
But the numbers that BI member and wastewater technology expert Jürgen Greive determined with his calculation models made hardly anyone happy.
11,800 euros: Greive considers this amount to be realistic if the municipality finances the sewage treatment plant with an improvement contribution, which has been indicated regularly in the past.
The expert's sample calculation - which can be found on the BI website irschenberg.org - looks like this: The estimated total costs of the project have been estimated at up to seven million euros in recent years.
According to Second Mayor Marinus Eyrainer (FWG Irschenberg), this number is based on a visit to the comparable facility in Sulzemoos (Dachau district), which the municipal council visited in 2020.
Subsidy of 500,000 euros will be deducted from this, which the municipality receives for its progressive fourth cleaning stage and for which constituency deputy and state parliament president Ilse Aigner had campaigned (we reported).
The municipality has to bear part of the remaining costs – Greive set ten percent, i.e. 650,000 euros.
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This means that 5.85 million euros have to be allocated to the affiliated citizens and companies.
Quite a chunk when you consider that, according to Greive, only 43 percent of the population are connected with the districts of Irschenberg, Salzhub, Buchbichl and Wendling.
The expansion size is 6500 population equivalent, but only 1380 inhabitants plus trade are to be connected.
For comparison: According to Wikipedia, the population of Irschenberg was 3200 at the end of 2021.
For a house with 200 square meters of floor space and 1000 square meters of land, those 11,800 euros result.
Greive's model does not take into account the cost increases of recent months, particularly in the construction sector.
The financing requirement should therefore be even higher in real terms.
Mayor Klaus Meixner (CSU), who was not present, had stated in advance that the municipality had no current cost estimate.
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The second option that the municipality has is financing through sewage charges.
The 5.85 million will be financed with a long-term loan and paid off via the sewage fees.
With a term of 30 years and an interest rate of five percent, the total cost would be 11.3 million euros – more or less a doubling of the costs that would have to be added to the wastewater price.
Fairer but more expensive
Greive's calculation looks like this: With 1,380 connected residents and 2,000 population equivalents due to trade and an annual water consumption of 50 cubic meters per resident, the annual wastewater volume is around 169,000 cubic meters.
The price increase on the wastewater fee, which was already increased by 47 percent to EUR 2.80 per cubic meter in 2021, should then be EUR 5.03 per cubic meter - without higher personnel expenses and higher operating costs for the more complex new sewage treatment plant.
For comparison: Weyarn is currently at 3.57 euros, Miesbach at 1.49 euros.
Greive's conclusion: With regard to the consumption-based wastewater fee, the surcharge is fairer, but also more expensive, especially with regard to large consumers.
Option: change the construction
In view of this quite realistic cost burden, BI's position was clear: the municipality should reconsider its chosen concept and choose a system that is as simple as possible.
But then the 500,000 euro subsidy would no longer apply.
The building cubature, process diagrams and alternatively the connection to the sewage treatment plant in Bruckmühl should also be reconsidered.
Another idea is to direct the cleaned water not only into the Kropfbach, which has little water, but also into the Aufhamer Bach.
Because the small amount of water in the former is one of the reasons for the new building.
Overall, the BI campaigned for the municipality to set up a working group in which citizens can also get involved.
Together they should look for a cost-effective solution and a citizen-friendly distribution of the costs.
ddy
