Bureaucratic jungle in Neu-Eichenberg: Kämmerer warns of work stress!

Bureaucratic jungle in Neu-Eichenberg: Kämmerer warns of work stress!

In the small community of Neu-Eichenberg, local government employees are often under pressure, especially in the finance department. Treasurer Roland Burdack is critical of the bureaucracy that makes everyday work more difficult. With a team consisting of two full-time and three part-time employees, as well as the mayor, there is a lot of challenge in Neu-Eichenberg. 20 statistics have to be created every year, and the trend shows that there could be more and more of them HNA reported.

The challenge is compounded by different software from the financial supervisory authority and the Hessian State Statistical Office. Burdack urgently calls for standardization of data requirements and better access to municipal databases. When accurate data already exists, the often necessary redeployments are not only inefficient, but create additional work. Processing times vary greatly - while some statistics can be completed in 3-4 hours, budget preparation can take up to two weeks.

Financial hurdles and funding

It's not just the bureaucracy that creates a high workload, applying for funding is also complicated. Burdack reports that even small funding amounts of 500 euros can result in an enormous effort of 4-5 hours. The extensive documentation requirements often lead to fines or reductions if deadlines are not met. Small municipalities such as Neu-Eichenberg in particular rely on this financial support in order to remain able to act.

The FDP has also criticized the fact that federal funds are often withheld at the state level and not passed on to the municipalities. It calls for a principle of connectivity, which states that tasks and the financial resources necessary for them belong together. The party is calling for a debt relief program for overburdened municipalities, which should be accompanied by important infrastructure projects, as shown in the report Berlin Institute emerges.

For Burdack, the high level of testing required to determine eligibility is also a serious problem. “More and more control functions by various institutions are putting a strain on us,” he explains. The situation doesn't get any easier because there is no intergovernmental audit service that centralizes the data.

Public contracts and tenders

Another topic is public contracts, which often require extensive requests for offers and tenders. This can be time-consuming, especially for funded projects. An example of this is the purchase of a new fire truck, which must be done on time so that the funding is not lost.

In summary, it can be seen that the challenges for Neu-Eichenberg continue to increase due to the complicated bureaucracy and insufficient financial support from higher levels. Better coordination between authorities and simplification of procedures could provide significant relief for the community.