The finances of the municipality of Unterhaching are not doing well at the moment – so much has already gotten around in town. How dramatic the situation of the second largest municipality in the district of Munich is, however, can be seen from the agenda for the municipal council meeting this Wednesday: the imposition of a budget freeze is announced. “We have a problem,” admits City Hall spokesman Simon Hötzl. It’s about millions.
So the community is apparently right that the sale of the stadium to the Spielvereinigung (SpVgg) Unterhaching, which has been decided for a long time but has recently stalled, seems to be picking up speed again. There may even be more in it than the previously targeted 3.3 million euros for the heart of the sports park without side areas, as agreed two years ago. “We are not selling these properties,” Mayor Wolfgang Panzer (SPD) emphasized at the time. They should remain owned by the municipality and would continue to be used by the SpVgg, the school and the other local club Fortuna for youth and mass sports, was the announcement from the town hall in summer 2020. Now the area around the municipality and club is closed heard that the game association might also be interested in taking over the training pitches. SpVgg President Manfred Schwabl keeps a low profile in this regard and refers to his deputy Peter Wagstyl, who neither confirms nor denies the rumors when asked.
The reason for the current million-dollar hole in Unterhaching’s household budget is apparently a slump in trade tax. This should have been apparent for a few weeks or months. 34.8 million euros were included in the 2022 budget – a record budget with a total volume of 118 million euros and with an estimate of 3.6 million euros more trade tax revenue than in the previous year. “The financial situation of the municipality of Unterhaching is still good,” Mayor Panzer announced in February of this year.
In 2025 there should be no more debt
But even then there were warnings to be careful. Peter Hupfauer from the FDP criticized: Those who make entire catalogs of demands should not be surprised at the boomerang in costs. Claudia Töpfer, chairwoman of the neo-group in the municipal council, said at the time that she missed “responsible use of taxpayers’ money”. SPD parliamentary group spokesman Peter Wöstenbrink said at the beginning of the year: “The economic development in 2022 is more difficult to predict than it has been in a financial year for a long time.” All imponderables resulted in cost increases. “The question is whether our budget can withstand a stress test,” said Wöstenbrink.
Apparently that is no longer the case. At least the municipal administration must now pull the emergency brake. “Everything is getting more expensive, energy prices are falling and we have a drop in income from trade tax,” says Hötzl, explaining the measure. A budget freeze is usually issued by an administration when it becomes apparent that the development of income or expenses deviate so much from planning that the balance of the budget would otherwise be endangered. “We have a coverage gap in the current budget,” says Hötzl, but the exact amount has not yet been quantified. At least it is so high that it requires action from the administration.
Not yet in agreement: Mayor Wolfgang Panzer and SpVgg President Manfred Schwabl (right).
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
However, such a budget freeze does not currently mean that funds that have already been promised or expenditure that has already been decided on will be cancelled. “It’s a budgetary lock that works inwards,” emphasizes Hötzl. So it hits the town hall and the municipal council. Although there are collective bargaining regulations and binding resolutions by the municipal committee. Expert opinions are no longer obtained, experts are no longer commissioned. And the buttered pretzels in the meetings will also be cancelled. But one shouldn’t overestimate the issue, Hötzl tries to appease. “It’s just a stop signal because we’re heading for a problem.”
This applies above all to the 2023 budget, the deliberations on which are only just beginning. There is already a fear in the community that funding could be lost or reduced in the future. At the Agenda 21 general assembly last week, for example, fears were expressed that the municipal subsidy for renting the meeting point in the town center could be canceled in the coming year.
So how to react? While an expected borrowing of ten million euros was noted in the 2022 budget, the debt should be gradually reduced in the coming years: only 6.5 million were planned for 2023, three million for 2024 and nothing at all for 2025. Armin Konetschny from the Greens had already warned in February that the municipality should “think about further revenue opportunities”. He was thinking about the social use of land (Sobon), but certainly not about selling the stadium or even the entire sports park. Because while the other factions were happy at the time to at least get rid of the stadium, the Greens were always against such a deal.