As of: February 4, 2024, 8:00 a.m
By: Wolfgang Schörner
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Background image with a symbolic character: Before household figures could be seen on the monitor, Darth Vader, the dark figure from the “Star Wars” films, appeared.
© Wolfgang Schörner
The city of Penzberg is facing one of the most difficult budget discussions in recent decades.
It will hardly be possible to avoid tough cuts.
The Finance Committee began the debate on Thursday.
In the public part he spoke about rents, public utilities, roads, crises and winter service - with a gloomy guest breathing down his neck.
Penzberg - It had a symbolic character: When city treasurer Marika-Edith Markert plugged in her computer in the finance committee on Thursday, the image of Darth Vader, the dark ruler from the “Star Wars” film series, appeared on the large monitor in the meeting room.
To which one committee member joked: “The local authority supervisory authority.”
The municipal inspectorate will study the budget particularly carefully
In fact, the local authority supervision of the district office, which turned a blind eye to 2023, will study the Penzberg budget particularly carefully this year.
Essentially, the point is that a municipality is not allowed to take out loans until it has exhausted all other options, i.e. cutting expenses and increasing income, for example through fees, taxes and property sales.
The problem is that there is still a gap of 15 million euros in the draft budget.
The city must raise another 20 million euros by 2025.
First of several Finance Committee meetings
On Thursday evening, the Penzberg Finance Committee met for its first of several budget discussions.
At the start of the meeting, he agreed to the BfP parliamentary group's request to have a large part of the discussion discussed publicly.
The first point was rents and leases - “a signal”
First, the committee dealt with rents and leases.
The public part was not about a specific increase, but about “a signal as to whether this should be addressed,” as Mayor Stefan Korpan (CSU) explained.
A signal that – this is how the speeches can be interpreted – he also received.
Wolfgang Sacher (BfP) said that there was a fundamental decision in 2011 to increase rents in city apartments every two years.
This happened once or twice and then not again.
These include very low rents.
“They should be equalized slowly.” Mayor Korpan said that the cheapest rent in a city apartment is 4.50 euros per square meter.
With an increase of 15 percent it would be 5.17 euros, he calculated.
For comparison: In the new buildings west of Birkenstrasse, the city charges 12.50 euros.
Ute Frohwein-Sendl (PM) and Kerstin Engel (Greens) warned against turning the screw too much.
There are many people with low incomes who are dependent on low rents, says Frohwein-Sendl.
Concrete savings decisions amounting to almost 1.2 million euros
In the first financial meeting there were also concrete savings decisions, amounting to almost 1.2 million euros.
The construction of a replacement power system in the Layritzhalle, which was supposed to supply the construction yard with energy for several days in the event of a crisis - a blackout - was canceled.
This relieved the budget by 455,000 euros (the other half would have been paid by the municipal utilities).
720,500 euros were also cut for civil engineering work in the area of Wölflstrasse and Birkenstrasse.
The plan there was to renew the road, widen the sidewalk and close a gap in the sidewalk.
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In the run-up to the meeting, the building authority itself had removed investments from the draft: 300,000 euros for planning an extension to the Birkenstraße elementary school and 1.2 million euros that were intended for the eastern half of the Layritzhalle (the energy center is being built in the western half ) to rebuild.
Discussion about road maintenance and winter service
The first meeting also discussed cuts in road maintenance, which costs around 400,000 euros ("Not every road has to be free of potholes") and in winter maintenance ("Don't clear the side streets anymore"), which costs around 250,000 euros.
In both cases, however, the committee refrained from doing so.
He also stayed away from the planning workshop for the city center (145,000 euros).
A request from Sacher that no new staff positions would be created in the city administration was also rejected.
Because his words could also be interpreted to mean that no more new employees are allowed to be hired, which would also exclude replacements and which went too far for the committee majority.
“If you cut off our money, they will still pay in the end.”
Payments to the municipal utilities were also discussed.
However, board member André Behre explained that district heating and family pools, for example, were tasks that the municipal utilities had been commissioned with by the city.
If the city did not pay, contrary to what was agreed, the municipal utilities would have to take out further loans at high interest rates.
Behre's sobering conclusion to the committee members: "If you cut off our money, you will still pay it in the end."
At the beginning of the meeting, Sacher suggested that the city administration first examine all positions to see whether they could be deleted.
He cited the environmental protection department as an example.
However, Mayor Korpan explained that 95 percent of the budget items are based on city council resolutions.
The administration cannot simply change this itself.
The city council has to do that itself.