Ortenberg's budget approved: tax increases and savings!

Ortenberg's budget approved: tax increases and savings!

The city of Ortenberg can breathe a sigh of relief: On July 14th, District Administrator Jan Weckler (CDU) approved the budget for 2025 after there had been no approved budget since the beginning of 2024. This not only means an upswing for the city's financial situation, but also an important foundation for the coming years. The approval was officially announced on the city's website, while Mayor Markus Bäckel (FWG) explained the budget when asked.

The budget includes a strong 26.6 million euros in expenditure and shows a positive surplus of 1.28 million euros. This surplus is crucial in order to be able to repay the cash loans amounting to 4.8 million euros, for which interest accrues 150,000 euros annually. The CDU parliamentary group emphasized that the success in approving the budget was also due to the committed participation of the city council.

Tax increases and savings

A central point of the budget resolutions is the increase in property taxes. The property tax A for agricultural land increases from 350 to 540 percentage points. Property tax B, which applies to both developed and undeveloped properties, has increased from 560 to 780 percentage points. Only the trade tax remains stable at 400 percentage points.

These changes are part of a comprehensive package of measures that also provides for savings in consulting costs. These savings result from the expiration of a consulting contract and a reduction in billed hours. The city also had the idea of ​​generating income through the sale of ecopoints and expects income of around one million euros, which could represent 40 to 50 percent of the ecopoint inventory.

However, during the careful planning and discussions on budget approval, there were signs of the mayor's information policy. There was criticism that local politicians were informed via the city's website and not in personal conversations. Valentin Schwarz, chairman of the CDU parliamentary group, sees the approval of the budget not only as a success in terms of personnel policy, but also emphasizes the need for constructive cooperation between all parliamentary groups.

The look into the future

It remains to be seen how the new property taxes will affect citizens in the coming months. In view of the upcoming property tax reform in other parts of Germany, such as Berlin, where around 900,000 new property tax notices will be sent by the end of 2024, the effects on financial flows in municipalities are a hot topic. In Berlin, property tax reform is already on the radar after a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court in 2018 declared the old calculation unconstitutional. The reform will come into force there on January 1, 2025 and will lead to a recalculation that will lead to partly higher and partly lower tax burdens.

Ortenberg is facing exciting challenges, and cooperation between the federal and state governments on the issue of municipal financing is more urgent than ever. Citizens can be curious to see how the political decisions in the city will develop in order to create a sustainable financial basis.