The corona pandemic not only brings a lot of work to the task force in the Unterföhringen municipal administration, but also shakes up the finances of the municipality. It is like a “roller coaster ride”, said city hall chief Andreas Kemmelmeyer from the party-free electorate (PWU) now in the citizens’ meeting. Unterföhring is one of the financially strongest municipalities in the Munich district, where trade taxes have been bubbling up in the past. But the trend in revenue shows that Corona has a significant impact on municipal finances, said the mayor. Since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, according to him, only one thing is certain – “namely the uncertainty”.
The “ups and downs” were already evident in 2020. While there was still a positive development in Unterföhring at the beginning of the first Corona year, there was a slump of 40 million euros in trade tax income in April. As a result, Unterföhring had to reduce the amount shown in the budget from 70 to 51 million euros. But less than two weeks after the municipal council decided on the supplementary budget last November, everyone was surprised, according to Kemmelmeyer, when there was a recovery: at the end of the year there were even 76.2 million in the books of the finance department, the tills rang again in the town hall because two Companies had significantly increased the advance payments for 2020 after there were obviously signs of an improved annual result.
With this experience behind it, the municipal council acted cautiously when planning the budget for 2021 with a trade tax rate of 60 million euros. Even if the municipality exceeded this early in the current year by ten million euros, the current development is in line with that of the previous year, according to Kemmelmeyer. The trend in trade tax receipts had been pointing down again for a few months before a recovery could be observed again. At the beginning of October, according to the mayor’s words, it looked as if the budget would fall below 56.5 million euros, but the good news came in the middle of the month: Unterföhring can currently expect income of a good 80 million euros. It remains to be seen whether it will stay that way in the end.
The reserves currently amount to 184 million euros. A considerable sum that Unterföhring will probably also need in order to be able to finance the numerous planned construction projects such as the new fire station, the renovation of the old buildings of the elementary school or the town hall in the new town center. From this week onwards the finance committee of the local council will deal with which projects it will really be and to what extent. Kemmelmeyer avoided speaking of a further necessary prioritization in the citizens’ meeting, but assured the 70 or so audience: “We will definitely not do hara-kiri.” Rather, the local council wants to “make responsible financial planning” in the future too. According to the mayor, Unterföhring has invested “carefully and sustainably” in the infrastructure for future generations over the past few years. And it was “absolutely right that we did not keep our capital on the high edge,” said Kemmelmeyer.
But even in Unterföhring, which is used to success, the reserves are finite: If the desire to invest continues unchecked, then, according to the financial plan presented in February 2020, only 35.2 million euros will remain in the bank by 2023. In weddings it was almost half a billion euros, which until 2017, when nobody had heard of Corona, was mainly due to the booming trade tax income.