Despite massive criticism from within its own ranks, the Pirna City Council decided on the new double budget for 2021/2022 as planned in November. It was extremely important to the city that the MPs confirm the figures this year. Because the town hall wants to continue investing in the coming years in order to send a positive signal that things will continue despite uncertain times. Under no circumstances did they want to present the people with a city of standstill – which would have existed without a budget.
The city was aware that this would not be easy. It was already clear in advance that Pirna would not be able to generate any own funds for investments other than the funds for loan repayments. The city will therefore take out new loans amounting to almost ten million euros over the next two years and also use its own reserves.
Because this procedure cannot be carried on indefinitely, the city submitted another decision to the council in addition to the budget. Accordingly, the city council should instruct the town hall to submit proposals on how Pirna can remain financially efficient in the long term. 15 MPs voted in favor, six against, one abstained. The resolution includes both short and long term goals.
Big cuts planned
In the draft of the new double budget, the city has put very optimistic plans for general cover funds. The extent to which the income can actually be generated is still completely open. Nobody knows how the consequences of the corona pandemic will affect, and it is also unclear to what extent the state will receive funding and allocations.
This leads to the first step: so that the new budget is balanced, 14 percent of all cash expenses are initially blocked. At this level, the expenditures in the budgets of the individual departments in the town hall are on hold for the time being.
In addition, the budget must be structurally changed in the medium term in order to generate the necessary equity capital for investments.
Essentially, this is about exploring further savings and income potential so that room for maneuver and design remains intact in the future. Much is being put to the test, and there are already initial approaches. The city has already reduced some of these numbers roughly, to the annoyance of some city councilors, but only shortly before the budget decision.
The approaches presented by the city are initially suggestions. In the first quarter of 2021, the city initially wants to submit specific figures and other alternatives. Only then – if there is a need – may individual points be decided by the city council. Sächsische.de first gives an overview of the additional savings and income suggestions.
Is Pirna thinning out the regulatory office?
There is the consideration of examining the current shift work model of the public order office employees in order to save personnel costs if necessary. However, the city had only increased its staff for the enforcement service in 2019, and they have been working in a continuous three-shift operation since then. This is to ensure that the law enforcement officers are more present at focal points and enforce order and security in order to strengthen the residents’ subjective feeling of security. It is therefore questionable whether the city and the council actually want to shake the system.
Another savings option that affects the administration: Pirna carries out monument protection tasks on behalf of the district. If you were to delete this position in the city, Pirna could save 70,000 euros a year. But there is also the possibility of negotiating with the district to increase the subsidy for this position from the current 9,000 euros per year. The city council had only spoken out for some time that this important position in the city should be retained.
Will Pirna give up the high schools?
The proposal is not new. Already in mid-2018, the then city councilor Wolfgang Heinrich (Pirna Citizens’ Initiatives) applied for the two Pirna high schools to be transferred to the district in order to relieve Pirna financially. The city council rejected this request with a large majority.
Now the city itself raises this point on the tableau. After this proposal, Pirna could negotiate with the district to take over the sponsorship for the grammar schools from now on. In such a case, if Pirna no longer had to pay for the building, equipment and teaching and learning materials, the city would save around 670,000 euros per year.
Will Pirna increase the daycare fees?
The parental contributions for the daycare centers only increased significantly on September 1, 2020. To ensure that the increase is not too serious, especially in the daycare area, Pirna had reduced the percentage allocation in this area and increased it for after-school care and kindergarten in order to distribute the burden in solidarity.
Now there is the consideration: If the city were to exhaust the maximum allowable contribution rates for all three types of care, the city could earn an additional 230,000 euros annually.
However, this is actually countered by the will of the city council: when it came to increasing the parental contributions this year, the MPs declared in unison that they would endeavor to lower these contributions in the future if the financial situation permits – in order to relieve the parents financially.
Double use again in schools?
The so-called double use – that classrooms in schools serve as classrooms in the mornings and as after-school care rooms in the afternoons – is rather unusual in Pirna. Usually there are extra day care buildings or at least extra rooms for the children to be looked after.
But this system is also being put to the test: for example, the newly planned primary school on the Sonnenstein could be built so that the rooms can be used twice in the future. In this way, Pirna would save the cost of a separate after-school care center.
There is also the consideration of generally reorganizing the daycare centers – especially the after-school care centers in Copitz. In the future, the after-school children could be looked after in school rooms again, so that there would be more space for crèche and kindergarten children in the after-school facilities. In this way, Pirna could save expenses for new daycare centers.
Will Pirna increase the parking fees?
There is an approach of possibly extending the chargeable times in city car parks or increasing the parking fees. This could also bring a substantial sum into the Pirna household budget. This at least coincides with the goals of the Transport Development Plan 2030. This already includes raising parking fees.
Will Pirna increase the business tax?
The tax rate in Pirna for the trade tax is currently 400. If this were to increase, additional income of two million euros would be conceivable. An increase in other taxes – for example property and dog tax – are also taken into account.
Is Pirna canceling the road expansion?
In general, Pirna does not want to cancel the road expansion. However, as long as there is no prospect of funding, planned road construction projects could initially be blocked with a blocking notice. These projects are also not to be implemented until the funding has been confirmed. If it is certain that there are no grants for a certain road construction project, then this project should not be implemented in the future.
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