As of: February 28, 2024, 4:56 p.m
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“The only way I see the right path is the possibility of a declaratory action by the district against the Free State”: District Administrator Stefan Frey (CSU) at the Kraillinger local council meeting.
© Stefan Frey
A lawsuit against the district levy is off the table.
The Kraillinger local council decided this at its meeting on Tuesday evening against the three votes of the FDP and Udo Guizetti of the SPD.
District Administrator Stefan Frey appeared at the meeting as an extraordinary guest, who in turn held out the prospect of a lawsuit by the district against the Free State.
Krailling -
The municipality of Krailling received this year's levy notice from the Starnberg district at the beginning of February.
As a result, Krailling has to pay 6.8 million euros in district levy for the 2024 financial year.
A considerable sum for a small – and, above all, financially weak – community like Krailling.
However, when you reduce this amount, 433,000 euros go to areas that, according to the administration, the Free State of Bavaria actually has to pay.
“Krailling is thus indirectly financing state tasks,” explained the lawyer Christian Langgartner, who was commissioned by the municipality and was present.
According to the recommendation of the legal advisor, whether this is legal can be checked with the help of a legal challenge to the Bavarian Administrative Court in Munich.
Mayor Rudolph Haux (FDP) had now put the decision about a lawsuit against the district levy on the agenda in order not to miss any deadlines.
The legal challenge should have been received by the court by March 8th at the latest.
But the local councilors did not want to be pushed and demanded concrete clarification of the content - from district administrator Stefan Frey himself.
Unusually for a local council meeting, Mayor Rudolph Haux contacted the district administrator by cell phone and officially invited him to the current meeting.
This procedure had previously been initiated by the CSU parliamentary group.
The agenda item was changed from non-public to public across all party groups.
The district administrator, who was probably in the area not entirely by chance, appeared and explained his point of view.
Stefan Frey assumes that an action to challenge the levy decision before the administrative court would have no chance of success, as the court would only formally examine the district levy.
What is not assessed is whether the district is underfinanced by the state, Frey continued.
“For me, the only option I see as the right path is a declaratory action by the district against the Free State,” explained the district administrator.
The aim of this lawsuit is that the district does not have to pass on costs for state tasks to the district levy, but rather receives sufficient funds from the state.
Here, however, Frey also hinted that such a lawsuit could amount to a “zero-sum game”: “If the declaratory judgment action is successful, the Free State will most likely reduce the voluntary payments.”
But before the district administrator is actually prepared to file a declaratory judgment action, two important conditions must be met.
First: that Krailling doesn't sue.
Stefan Frey commented that he could not financially expect the district to have two parallel lawsuits.
Secondly, Frey would like to wait for the result of the legal opinion commissioned by the communities of Pöcking, Starnberg and Krailling.
However, the report is not expected for another two to three months.
Only the municipality of Krailling wanted to sue against the district levy.
A fact that the local CSU criticized in a press release the day after the local council meeting.
“With this ill-advised solo effort, Krailling would have placed itself in an outsider position without solidarity within the district family of communities,” said CSU parliamentary group spokesman Hans Wechner.
The comments by lawyer Christian Langgartner about possible consequences for the local councilors if they did not sue caused additional outrage on this unusual meeting evening: If they did not sue, the local councilors could have to be personally liable.
Green party spokeswoman Andrea Schulte-Krauss found this statement to be a “massive threat” that “made the whole thing dishonest”.
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According to Mayor Rudolph Haux, the rejection of the lawsuit was a wrong decision.
In the Merkur interview on Wednesday, he said: “I still think a lawsuit is necessary.
If you want to move the community forward economically, you can’t keep forgoing such large sums.”
Carolin Högel