It could all be so nice: the Grafinger Treasury calculates almost 11.1 million euros in income from income tax participation for the 2022 budget year. That is around 600,000 euros more than it received in 2021. She wants to generate around 5.7 million euros from trade tax in 2022. That would be an increase of around one million euros compared to the previous year’s figure. But it’s not that simple, as the most recent meeting of the Grafing finance committee showed.
Because all this is subject to a condition. “The unpleasant things of the pandemic will remain for the time being,” said Mayor Christian Bauer (CSU). “And with it the financial uncertainty.” Who knows how long restrictions due to the pandemic will last and – keyword: trade tax – what they will do with the 2022 balance sheets of the Grafingen medium-sized companies, for example? Who can quantify what the third year of the pandemic means for the wallet of the average consumer – and thus for income tax participation? “We have to keep an eye on the income,” Bauer finished the sketch. Even through the fog, if you will.
The rising costs are just one problem
And anyway: the construction costs. “The rise and rise.” Added to this is the lack of availability of craft companies. “Sometimes we write something out – and we’re happy if a single offer comes back at all,” he gave the mayor’s insight behind the scenes at City Hall. If this were to remain the case, many a construction project could possibly not be implemented at all, despite the city council decision.
“Reduce expenses, scale back voluntary benefits”, according to Treasurer Veronika Kainz, this must be the maxim again in the current year. According to their list, the total volume of the 2022 budget is 43.3 million euros. That is around four million euros more than last year. Although also around five and a half million euros lower than in the pre-pandemic year 2019. A good 28.2 million euros (2021: 29.1 million euros) of this is attributable to the administrative budget, 12.3 million euros to the asset or investment budget (2021: 11 .2 million euros).
Many expensive investments are on the agenda
The list of expenses is long there. The highest is two million euros and concerns the first large part of the new children’s center in Forellenstrasse. 900,000 euros are due for the land purchase of the senior citizens’ home underground car park, 850,000 euros for the remaining work on the new building yard, 800,000 euros for the ongoing expansion of the elementary school and the renovation of the playground. Around 400,000 euros each are earmarked for the conversion of the street lighting and the renovation of the municipal roads, 355,000 euros for various bridge renovations and 250,000 euros as a subsidy for the Senior Citizens’ Home Foundation.
There is also plenty of income. The largest accounts for a good 1.1 million euros in several property sales in the commercial area. The city received a subsidy of 400,000 euros for the elementary school, and almost as much for the expansion of the broadband supply and the renovation of the town hall. But the income no longer covers the expenses.
Therefore, Grafing has to continue to the reserves and to the credit market. It intends to withdraw almost 2.5 million euros from reserves in the current year and borrow two million euros on the credit market. And because not much can be drawn from the reserves in the following years, new borrowing swells: according to the financial plan, it should be 15.6 million euros in the four budget years 2022 to 2025. Roughly speaking, this corresponds to a doubling of the debt level on December 31, 2021.
The recommended decision to present the budget to the city council in this way was unanimous.