As of: February 21, 2024, 9:00 p.m
By: Sebastian Tauchnitz
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Press
Split
The district wants to save 350,000 euros on youth centers.
The AWO criticizes this. © Jens Schicke/Imago
In an open letter to the district administrator and the district council, the AWO demands that the district continue to finance personnel costs in youth centers.
District
– The financial situation of the Weilheim-Schongau district is dramatic.
In order to be able to put together a budget with a quorum in view of the millions that will be invested in the hospital this year and in the coming years, the district council's budget consolidation working group racked its brains for months and scoured the budget for savings options (we reported ).
One of the suggestions she made was to save 350,000 euros on personnel costs in the youth centers.
The reasoning was very simple: This was a task for the cities and municipalities that operate such a center, not the district.
For many years, the staff was financed on a voluntary basis.
There is no more money for that now.
The AWO Weilheim-Schongau district association sharply criticized this decision in a letter sent to district administrator Andrea Jochner-Weiß and the members of the district council, which the editorial team has received.
“In our opinion and the opinion of other experts, the youth center belongs to SGB VIII §11 and this would clarify that the district is responsible,” it says.
Youth centers as preventive measures
The reason given is that open youth work is less present in small municipalities.
The young people would therefore visit the youth centers in the larger municipalities, which is why the smaller towns would also benefit from the financing of the staff.
Exact figures as to how many young people travel to the nearest larger community to visit a youth center are not mentioned in the letter.
Instead, reference is made to a long-standing agreement between the district and municipalities, according to which the cities and municipalities take care of the real estate, building maintenance and playground equipment, while the district pays the staff.
The three signatories of the letter - district chairman Michael Asam and his deputies Dominik Spring and Ute Frohwein-Sendl - also argue with the incalculable consequences of the austerity measure.
Youth centers would be part of the preventative measures and would prevent young people from slipping into a situation and possibly having to be hospitalized.
Those responsible for the AWO calculate that this would cost 91,000 euros per young person per year.
And add: “The costs of juvenile detention are certainly not to be despised.” The youth centers have put many young people on the right path.
Fears that young people will slip into the right-wing scene
Finally, the signatories of the letter express their concern that “we in Germany are moving further and further to the right”.
The youth centers are always dealing with children and young people who are looking for orientation.
“Does it really make sense to leave this to other groups that have little to do with democracy?” is the message at the end of the letter.
The conclusion is that the offer must be maintained in the district.