As of: February 2, 2024, 4:31 p.m
By: Thomas Zimmerly
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The mayors complain that the municipalities are being assigned more and more tasks, but there is too little funding from the state and federal government for them.
© Hannes P Albert/dpa
According to the treasurer's office, 52.85 percent of the district levy is needed to achieve an approved district budget for 2024.
Not with us, said the mayors of various district municipalities.
They vented their anger to the representative of the legal supervisory authority at the district committee meeting.
Dachau – Stefanie Weber, as head of municipal supervision at the government of Upper Bavaria, is responsible for the Dachau district and therefore for its budget.
On Friday at the district committee meeting, the experienced official's field of responsibility expanded to include a further area: general lightning protection.
Because the district committee members used their presence to make a “final cry for help,” as Franz Obesser (CSU) said.
Or as the observer of the meeting was able to see: They expressed massive criticism of the behavior of the federal and state governments.
The meeting was originally scheduled because last Wednesday an inter-party urgent application for the 2024 budget draft was received in the district office, signed by the CSU, FW district, SPD and the Greens.
In it, the four district council groups asked for ten percent savings in view of the municipalities' "extremely tense budget situation" and made it clear that they were prepared to make "massive cuts".
To do this, they attached a catalog of areas that could be cut (see box).
The motion was approved unanimously.
Tense situation in the district budget
According to treasurer Michael Mair's draft, the district's extremely tense budget situation is as follows: With a levy capacity of a good 237 million euros, he expected a levy rate of 49.99 percent (for comparison: 49.5 percent in 2023).
One point in the district levy means 2.373 million euros.
The uncovered minimum financial requirement of 6.688 million euros would mean a further increase in the district levy assessment rate by 2.86 percent to 52.85 percent without further savings.
The main reasons for the underfunding are the construction of the two high schools and, above all, the increased interest rates on loans and the loss of KfW funding.
Added to this is “inflation,” says District Administrator Stefan Löwl.
Under this heading he subsumes the increased material, operating and personnel costs for the current 730 employees.
According to Löwl, personnel costs alone “have almost doubled since 2015”.
And then there is public transport, which is becoming increasingly expensive.
Mair: “We have to pay an additional 15.6 million euros per year in 2025.
In 2019 it was still 4 million euros.” Third big point: lack of staffing at the state district office.
The Free State pays one or two civil servants, said Löwl, “but we need more than 40”.
The district councils are aware of these problems.
But increase the district levy to 52.85 percent?
No, that's the general tenor.
The mayors among the committee members in particular have the greatest concerns about the performance of their municipalities.
And they made this clear to the representative of the legal supervisory authority.
I cook.
Indersdorf's mayor Franz Obesser
“I cook,” says Indersdorf’s community leader Obesser.
His community is being assigned more and more tasks, but there is not enough funding from the state and federal government for them.
The result: Indersdorf had to increase the assessment rate for municipal taxes, positions in the municipality would no longer be filled, and projects for the citizens would no longer be carried out.
I'm not cooking anymore, I'm seething.
Karlsfeld's mayor Stefan Kolbe
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“I don't cook anymore, I'm seething,” said Karlsfeld's mayor Stefan Kolbe (CSU).
Due to the financial situation of his community, he is “no longer able to think about the future”.
He calculated: Karlsfeld has 40 million euros in revenue, but has to pay 16 million euros in district levy and 15 million for its administrative staff.
Kolbe: “The water is up to our necks!” And except for three or four, all of the district communities have their “backs to the wall.”
“Despite the different states of matter, I understand you,” replied Weber.
It is not primarily there to control, but rather to “advise the district in a trustworthy manner”.
However: “You have a deficit in the administrative budget that you cannot make up for with loans.” The pivotal point of the legal approval, according to Weber, is “long-term performance”.
If there is no budget that can be approved, the government takes over budget management
If there is no budget that can be approved, then the government will implement a provisional budget and the district will be “subject to enormous restrictions”.
Weber's conclusion: "It won't work without a serious look at the district levy!"
Dachau Mayor Florian Hartmann replied that he had “no problem” with submitting a budget that could not be approved – “because the dramatic situation is not seen”.
Perhaps the district municipalities would have to “take drastic measures”.
The city of Dachau doesn't have tractors for demos, "but then we'll do it with the vehicles from the construction yard"!
The austerity list of the CSU, FW Landkreis, SPD and Greens factions
In their urgent application, the four parliamentary groups ask the administration - after considering feasibility - to examine the following areas for savings:
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Job bike (leasing bikes for employees);
Cycling expert and ADFK membership;
Project “Between Village and Metropolis”;
Dachau Agile;
Dachau is humming;
Kreisblick magazine;
health region plus;
Mint Campus;
climate protection officer;
Economic development, if necessary restructuring and intermunicipal bundling.
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There could be savings in culture by capping expenses for the association of galleries and museums at 600,000 euros for the next five years and by concentrating the museum locations.
In addition, a critical review of the other financial approaches in the cultural sector should be carried out.
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Examination of standards in all areas of responsibility.
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Public transport: Savings, particularly through evaluation of prioritized measures and redefinition of basic services.
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In order to be able to continue to grant existing staff the large-capacity allowance in the future, the parliamentary groups see a hiring freeze as urgently appropriate under the following conditions: Job growth in 2024 only to the extent of the five trainee positions.
All remaining job requirements are to be compensated for through restructuring and from the pool of currently unfilled positions.
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The political groups also ask for clarification as to the extent to which the budget estimates in the area of building management include flat-rate estimates.
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A total of ten percent of the costs should be saved.
“If certain savings options are only possible if existing district council resolutions are suspended,” say the applicants, “we would ask for appropriate information in order to be able to reverse these if necessary.
We are also open to further suggestions in the area of voluntary services as well as compulsory administrative tasks.”
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