In the second year of the corona pandemic, the city of Bad Tölz is doing okay with its finances. Shortly after the worldwide outbreak of the virus, he felt like a flower, admitted treasurer Hermann Forster on Tuesday evening in the main and finance committee of the city council. He is now more comfortable, as the slump in tax revenue was far less severe than feared in 2020. In addition, the city has built up significant reserves in recent years and reduced debt. However, there are some significant additional expenses this year, including for the increased district levy. The bottom line is an investment rate of 1.9 million euros – 1.3 million less than in the previous year. “The overall result is impressive,” said Mayor Ingo Mehner (CSU). In the next few years, however, you have to “prioritise and set the right accents”.
In addition to the district levy, for which Bad Tölz has to pay a good 12.5 million and thus 302,000 euros more this time, the conversion of the Jahn School, which is to be largely completed this year, has a major impact. According to the most recent forecast by master builder Florian Ernst, the major project will cost a total of around 11.7 million euros, which is around 740,000 euros less than previously calculated. However, the city budget is not in trouble because of the high investments, as Forster explained. In 2021, the plan was to access the reserves of around 2.8 million, but this was not necessary. “The money can now be used for the second time,” said Forster.
Overall, the city plans to spend around 9.4 million euros this time, 1.65 million more than planned for 2022. The treasurer is lucky that important tax revenues continue to flow: Bad Tölz receives nine million from trade tax (an increase of 1.5 million), plus 12.67 million from income tax (570,000 euros more). The general key allocation increases by 277,800 to around 3.37 million euros. However, there are also losses in income due to the pandemic: the tourism contribution falls by 130,000 to 670,000 euros, the income from parking spaces and multi-storey car parks shrinks to 920,000 euros. On the expenditure side, the maintenance of the IT systems in the town hall and primary schools alone comes to 433,000 euros, only 181,000 euros were calculated. The three-year license for the security software alone amounts to around 145,000 euros, according to Forster. The planning for the development of the Moralt area (60,000 euros), fire protection measures in various residential complexes (295,000 euros), the demolition of the Schmidlhaus (125,000 euros), the trade tax levy (955,000 instead of 695 000 euros) and personnel costs, which at 12.9 million euros are usually the largest item.
The investment measures are listed in the asset budget: 3.18 million euros this year for the new construction of the Jahnschule and 330,000 for the remaining two point buildings on the school grounds, 800,000 euros for the expansion of Bairawieser Straße, 200,000 euros for the barrier-free conversion of bus stops, 550,000 euros for a new street sweepings hall, 185,000 euros for the design of the surroundings at the Gasthof Bräustüberl, 300,000 euros for the sewer renovation at Lettenholz, and 129,000 euros for the overhaul of the spa building, to which a new building is to be attached . A further 168,000 euros have been earmarked for the redesign of the discovery trail on the Blomberg.
The city of Bad Tölz also spends 30,000 euros on its local mountain to secure the slope in the upper part of the toboggan run. This section is only a winter hiking trail, the steep slope is not certified for tobogganing. This is “an unsatisfactory situation for the tobogganists”, complained City Councilor Richard Hoch (Greens). You’ll have to come up with something soon. Mayor Mehner doesn’t like this situation on the mountain either, but he showed understanding for the Blombergbahn as the operator – “if you look at the legal proceedings they’ve had in recent years”. As for tobogganing on the upper section of the trail, he doesn’t know anyone “who told me this is how it works”.
128,000 euros have been made available for tree care this year, 106,000 more than planned in the financial plan. When asked by Karsten Bauer (CSU), the mayor explained that Bad Tölz wanted to get more trees in the future.