As soon as he took the oath as a successor, he voted no three times: We are talking about the new local councilor Johann Lehner (70), who took Anton Stahl's chair. The next day he gave the reasons.
Denklingen - When asked by the KREISBOTEN, Lehner said that he had been there too briefly to take responsibility for a yes vote on the three important topics. It was about the approval of the 2022 annual accounts and the approval of 'unplanned expenditure'. And it was about the current budget. The new person rejected this as well as the financial planning for the years 2024 to 2027. Abstention was not possible, said Lehner, which is why he voted against the three points.
Another special feature was that the new treasurer, Markus Breibinder, was unable to be present when the first budget he prepared was passed. He was sick. Unlike in previous years, the budget was not intensively prepared in a council meeting. This was canceled this year. Instead, the 14 council members were sent the figures; They were encouraged to address their questions to the treasurer by email or telephone.
Zero trade tax
What is unusual in the 2024 budget is that no income from trade tax is recorded. On the contrary: there is even a loss of a good 100,000 euros. The background is that this year the municipality will have a trade tax target “at a low level”, as the preliminary report states. At the beginning of the year, the trade tax advance payment was significantly reduced. This has to do with the fact that the Hirschvogel company pays significantly less tax according to the tax office's decision.
Revenue from trade tax will also be low in 2025. An improvement can only be expected with the final tax assessment for 2024, which will probably not arrive until the beginning of 2026. For comparison: In 2022, Denklingen received almost five million euros from trade tax; Three million euros were planned for 2023.
The largest item in income this year is the share of income tax. The municipality is expecting 2.58 million euros. The administrative budget, which lists current expenses, has a volume of 12.67 million euros. In the asset budget (investments) it is 6.45 million. In total, the budget includes income and expenses of around 19 million euros.
In the 2022 annual accounts, the volume was still a good 30 million euros. The committee decided to discharge the burden, with Second Mayor Norbert Walter chairing the meeting. Regina Wölfl, as chairwoman of the audit committee, had previously brought some income and expenses into focus: The community and club center, which opened in November 2021, with all the trimmings, cost 17.7 million euros. The actual costs for the building – without land acquisition – were 13 million euros. The municipality has invested 1.1 million euros for the development of the Hinterberg development area with its 14 plots. For the Egart I and Egart II commercial areas it was 1.3 million euros.
Local councilor Dr. Maik Günther pointed out the increases in the area of social affairs. You have to keep an eye on it. Mayor Andreas Braunegger referred to the tariff adjustments and the inflation compensation for employees in the “Fantasiereich” day care center and in the forest kindergarten. Managing director Birgit Jost added that when it comes to staffing requirements, the care ratio in the three daycare groups, which differs from the standard groups, must be taken into account.