There is a political anecdote from Vaterstetten: when mayor Robert Niedergesäß was elected district administrator almost ten years ago, his CSU is said to have checked whether the post of head of town hall could be made an honorary post again. The background was that the Christian Social Party’s most experienced local politician at the time, the long-serving deputy mayor Martin Wagner, was already past the age limit for a professional mayor. At that time it was 65, now it is 67 years, the reference date is the first day of the term of office. Now this age limit is to fall, and this could also have an impact in the district.
Of the 21 municipalities in the district of Ebersberg, 14 have a mayor who works professionally. Only in seven communities – Baiern, Bruck, Egmating, Emmering, Frauenneuharting, Hohenlinden and Moosach – the highest office is an honorary post. There is already no age limit for this, which is often justified by the fact that in smaller communities – mayors with less than 5,000 inhabitants are always volunteers – it is already difficult enough to find someone for the post. In addition, there is less administrative work there, so that a volunteer can also do it.
Some communities have already gotten creative in order to overturn the age limit
In larger municipalities, the city or municipal council decides whether the head of administration works full-time. This usually happens when the official business of a certain size of the municipality becomes too extensive for a part-time mayor. Although there are also examples in the other direction: For example, the municipality of Aschheim switched back to volunteering for the election period in 2008, so that Mayor Helmut Englmann (CSU), then 68 years old, could run for a fifth term – successfully, by the way, only in 2014 he retired.
In the district of Ebersberg there has only been one return to the honorary chief of town hall: in 1983 the Zorneding municipal council decided this with a majority of the CSU, but not for reasons of age limit, but so that their mayoral candidate Erich Sechser could continue to work as senior public prosecutor in Munich if there was an election – a change that was not necessary, as was shown at the polls next year. The new mayor, Wolfgang Herold (SPD), had the matter voted on again in 1986, and since then Zorneding has had a professional mayor again.
Two mayors in the district would have to retire in 2026 according to the current age limit
Who, according to the current regulation, would be affected by the age limit in the next election in spring 2026: Mayor Piet Mayr and his office and party colleague Roland Frick from Pliening are the two heads of town hall in the district, for whom – if the upper limit still applies – is currently the last term of office ran And it will stay that way for him if the age limit is lifted, says Roland Frick. He will definitely not be running for a third term in three years. After all, he was already 72 years old and had been in local politics for 30 years, including twelve years as second and twelve years as first mayor. “I don’t want people to end up saying, ‘It’s good that he’s finally gone.'”
Roland Frick (CSU) has been head of the Pliening town hall since 2014, before that he was deputy mayor for twelve years.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
It sounds very similar for Mayr’s colleague Mayr in Zorneding, for him his fourth term of office will begin in 2026, his 36th year in the service of the Zorneding municipality and his 70th year. At that age, according to Mayr, things are good with politics. On the one hand, “because I also want to have something from the rest of my life”. His mayoral work weeks would average 50 to 60 hours, perhaps not ideal for someone who would be 75 at the end of a fourth term. “So far I’m still good together,” says Mayr, and that should remain the case in old age.
Zorneding’s mayor Piet Mayr (CSU), here at a municipal council meeting three years ago, has been in office since 2008, before that he was managing director in the town hall.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
But Mayr gives another reason for not competing again in 2026, even if he should: “The youngsters should also come along.” There are always new problems and always new solutions for them – if the incumbent stays too long, they will eventually become a bit blind to business. When it comes to the question of whether a fixed age limit is needed for this, “I’m a bit ambivalent,” says Mayr. Because whether someone retires at 67 or perhaps only at 69 should be decided on a case-by-case basis. Frick – who, by the way, was only able to run again in the last election because the age limit had just been raised by two years – also sees this as the responsibility of the respective heads of town hall: “The mayors should decide for themselves when to stop – and the voters.”
In the 2020 election, four incumbents in the Ebersberg district were no longer allowed to stand because of their age
Incidentally, in the election three years ago, the age limit had led to some changes of office: Anzing’s mayor Franz Finauer (UBA), his Ebersberg counterpart Walter Brilmayer (CSU), Markt Schwaben’s mayor Georg Hohmann (SPD) and Vaterstetten’s town hall chief Georg Reitsberger (FW) had to As of May 2, 2020, she has already celebrated her 67th birthday. It is interesting that this not only resulted in a change of people, but also in three of the four municipalities since 2020 another party has won the chief chair in the town hall: Only Michael Stolze, who succeeded two SPD mayors in Markt Schwaben, also became Nominated by the SPD and Free Voters, but he does not belong to any party himself. In Anzing, Kathrin Alte of the CSU took over, in Ebersberg the non-party Ulrich Proske, who was nominated by the SPD, and in Vaterstetten Leonhard Spitzauer of the CSU.
Doesn’t want to be mayor for 40 years: Father Stetten’s town hall boss Leonhard Spitzauer (CSU).
(Photo: Christian Endt)
Incidentally, the latter is the youngest mayor in the district, celebrating his 38th birthday in the spring. When asked what he thinks of the abolition of the age limit, Spitzauer replies that he has not actually dealt with it in depth. Basically, however, he is of the opinion “that you don’t have to hold political offices forever”. There could be different opinions on whether a rigid age limit is needed for this – which is only available for full-time mayors. In any case, according to Spitzauer, he no longer sees himself as mayor of Vaterstetten in 40 years – an office which, by the way, is still carried out full-time.
The rededication of the head of administration in Vaterstetten to an honorary post in 2013 remained a mere thought game, which is due to a different regulation in the Bavarian municipal code. This is very clear: in municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants, mayors must be full-time – but perhaps soon without an age limit.