When the community of Graefelfing looks at their account balance on December 31, one could hear a cork popping in the district. Around 260 million euros will be recorded in the reserves. A more than comfortable cushion to start the new year and push on at least four large municipal construction sites. But all that money also has a downside, because it has to be spent. “Such a budget volume is really work,” said Mayor Peter Köstler (CSU) at the first budget consultation for 2022 on Tuesday.
One thing has a long tradition in household consultations in the municipality of Graefelfing: the announcement that trade tax revenues are well above the target. So this year too, for a whole 26 million euros, as it turns out. Compared to the previous year, this is around 20 million euros less, but business tax income in 2021 will amount to around 165 million euros. For the coming years, the municipality is expecting 140 million euros in revenue, but, according to tradition, this figure could also be exceeded again.
The district levy always goes hand in hand with a flourishing cash position. And that hurts the Graefelfinger a lot in 2022, as the mayor indicated. There are 94 million euros to be paid to the district, “that is a historic high,” said Köstler. “With the community of Grünwald, we are the largest contribution payers in the district.” The district will not change the rate of assessment of the district levy, said Köstler – especially not lower it. For this purpose, he had a current letter from the district treasurer. This has a significant impact on the community. “A tax point up or down means a two million euro levy for us,” said Köstler.
The administration is at the limit
The municipality of Graefelfing is starting the new year with a budget of just over 169 million euros in the administrative budget and 79 million euros in the asset budget. The largest expenditure items in the administrative budget are personnel costs and building maintenance. The reserve will shrink by 60 million euros by the end of the year. This is due, on the one hand, to the high district levy and, on the other hand, to some major construction projects. At the forefront here is the new construction of the gym and swimming pool on the school campus, in which around 14 million euros including planning costs will flow in 2022 alone, followed by a further 17.5 million euros in 2023 and 2024. The second major cost item is Comprehensive renovation including renovation of the community center with 2.8 million euros, which will be incurred in 2022. The renovation of the town hall is also one of the major investment items.
After all, around one million euros will flow into noise protection measures around the motorway tunnel on the A 96 in the Graefelfing area in 2022. At the end of 2022, the reserve should then amount to 200 million euros. But here, too, the forecasts are again optimistic: “The withdrawal from the reserve has always been only theoretical,” said Günter Roll (Graefelfing-Lochham Citizens’ Association). In the end, reaching into the money box was always smaller than expected. Not least because not all measures can be implemented as planned within one year, but rather have been postponed into the future.
The good financial situation gives the municipality room to maneuver, but the large construction sites that are made possible by this also make a lot of work. Many construction projects are carried out almost at the same time. The administration is “clearly at the limit,” said the mayor.