Status: 24.12.2023, 18:00 PM
By: Wolfgang Schörner
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The youth centre in Penzberg. © Wolfgang Schörner
The six Penzberg city council factions have protested in an open letter to the district office and district council against cuts to the youth center. You speak of a "step back into the last millennium" and a "slap in the face".
Penzberg – As reported, the district of Weilheim-Schongau wants to cancel the personnel cost subsidy of 350,000 euros for the youth centers in Penzberg, Weilheim, Schongau, Peißenberg and Peiting. In Penzberg and Peiting, this would affect the Juze leaders, who are directly employed by the district. This is to apply from 2025. So for next year, the district will still cover the costs.
All six Penzberg city council factions protest
In a joint letter to the district administrator Andrea Jochner-Weiß (CSU) and the district council, the six Penzberg city council factions of CSU, SPD, "Penzberg Together" (PM), Alliance 90/The Greens, "Citizens for Penzberg" (BfP) and "Free Local Politics Penzberg" (FLP) protested against the cancellation of the subsidy. The letter states that it was "with great horror" that it was learned that the district only wanted to bear the expenses for five full-time employees of the open youth work until the end of 2024.
"Incomprehensible, absurd and fatal"
In the letter, the six Penzberg parliamentary groups express understanding "for the constraints that arise due to the tense budget situation of the Weilheim-Schongau district". However, with the best will in the world, it is not possible to imagine, it continues, "that such plans do justice to reality". Sacrificing the promotion and care of young people for the sake of fiscal consolidation, according to the letter, "would be incomprehensible, nonsensical and fatal in public perception."
Political groups warn of long-term consequences
The political groups speak of a "slap in the face of all those who are committed to the best possible integration of young people (especially those from social backgrounds that can be described as difficult) into society". At the same time, they warn that the cancellation would even exacerbate the financial situation of the district in the short to medium term, if the integration of young people into the social fabric would no longer succeed to the usual extent and the general public would then have to pay for the follow-up costs.
"Pedagogically sound concept of open youth work"
Specifically about the Penzberg situation, they explain that the youth center has had a director for almost 40 years, Peter Gruber, "who, with his immense expertise and his commitment that goes far beyond the normal level, is the father of the success of open youth work in our city." If the contract with him were not continued beyond 2024, this would "not only thwart the pedagogically sound concept of open youth work, it would also be tantamount to a step backwards into the past millennium".
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Furthermore, the parliamentary groups write that they are counting on the position to continue to be retained and also beyond Gruber's retirement in 2025. At the same time, they appeal to the district council "to resolutely oppose such considerations and to withhold their approval".
County committee has included deletion in draft budget
In October, a "working group on budget consolidation" of the district council had proposed the cancellation of the Juze subsidy, on the grounds that this was the task of the municipalities and not the district. The deletion was then included in the district's draft budget in November, which still has to be approved by the district council.
The district spokesman at the time explained in November that the municipalities have to decide on the continuation and personnel of the youth centers. This means that they will have to bear the personnel costs themselves in the future. At the same time, he defended the deletion by saying that it was not possible to convey that all district municipalities co-finance the youth centers at five locations via the district levy. A statement that already caused protest in the Penzberg city council in November. Christian Abt (CSU) countered at the time that this argument could also be applied to the hospital GmbH: "Why do we have to participate in hospitals that we Penzberger do not go to?"