Updated: 30.10.202021:29
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“Just a little difficult,” says Erdweg’s Mayor Christian Blatt, describing the 2020 budget. However, the following years do not look so rosy.
Erdweg – A financially very good 2019 budget with very good tax revenues and high income from property sales was followed by a 2020 budget, which is “fortunately just a little more difficult” at the moment, as Erdweg’s mayor Christian Blatt explained in his report on budget development.
When drawing up the budget, the approaches were generally chosen carefully. In addition, one could assume continued good income when planning, so that this budget would stand on “solid feet”, explained the community chief.
Over 61 percent of the main sources of income are already booked. In terms of trade tax, an increase of over half a million euros (forecast: 1.5 million euros) is to be expected, which is around 800,000 euros more than in September 2019. Due to the pandemic, however, income tax allocations with reduced income of 490,000 (Estimate: 4.7 million euros, forecast at the end of the year: 4.2 million euros). In total, treasurer Markus Treffler and mayor Blatt expect a shortfall in income of around 170,000 euros this year.
The expenditure in the administrative budget is largely in line with the budget (estimate: 8.1 million euros, forecast 7.9 million euros).
It would become “dangerous” in 2021/22. According to the newspaper, the current forecasts would be a minus compared to the previous plan for the largest tax revenue of 918,000 euros. And a trade tax equalization planned by the government will not help, because income tax will fall at the same time. No compensation is planned here. “That has to change,” demands Blatt.
Should there be a supplementary budget for 2020, “the withdrawal from the general reserve of two million euros that was taken into account in the planning for 2021 will no longer be available to us,” warned Christian Blatt. In other words: If expenses remained the same, financing would only be possible by taking out loans. However, these loans would mostly be needed for the sewage sector, so they are covered by fees and contributions and are therefore profitable. For the purchase of land and arable land there is a corresponding equivalent value. However, in this case too, it must be ensured that the legally required minimum allocation is achieved in the coming years in order to obtain a budget that can be approved.
The good news: In the current budget year, the performance of the Erdweg municipality is not yet at risk.
And everything that has been started with the available resources, i.e. subsidies among other things, will be processed further, says Blatt. The focus is on the children’s homes: the one planned in Walkertshofen and the one under construction in Eisenhofen.
Sabine Schäfer
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