The municipality of Taufkirchen is reaching for the stars this year – at least that is what the budget that has now been decided provides for. This includes expenditures of more than 90 million euros, including 1.6 million euros for upgrading the culture and congress center. And there, in turn, should be particularly emphasized, according to the municipal council’s proposal, “the new starry sky with 100,000 euros”. What is meant by this – and that sounds more mundane now – is the planned replacement of the ceiling lighting in the large hall of the Ritter-Hilprand-Hof.
Now some new lights are of course only a petitesse compared to what the community is planning to spend otherwise. For example, a good four million euros are earmarked for the primary school in the forest, whose new building is to be occupied during the Easter holidays. Another almost three million euros are available for a new middle school, although the work there will almost certainly not begin this year. Above all, the expensive new school buildings – the elementary school is estimated at 35, the middle school at an estimated 45 million euros – made it urgently necessary for the community to increase its income, said Mayor Ullrich Sander (independent). Last but not least, the treasurer has to rely on debts to cover expenses this year: the budget provides for loans of over 17 million euros.
However, it is uncertain whether the municipality will ultimately incur debts of this magnitude. After all, a lot of what is in the budget is implemented much later or in the end not at all – this is not only the case in Taufkirchen. And yet the figures make it clear how many investments the town hall has to make. 21 million euros are planned for construction measures alone, for example for a new skater park and toilet facilities in the sports and leisure park, the beautification of the park by the forest, the renovation of the station building and a new bulk goods hall at the recycling depot.
More money for the teachers of the music school
On the other hand, the budget shows how high the ongoing burdens on the municipality are – first and foremost in the case of staff, for whose payment more than ten million euros are provided for the first time. This is even surpassed by the 14.6 million euros that flow to the district as a district levy. Against the background of these high expenses, the income side is all the more important for the municipality, and here treasurer Jan Gradl was able to report a recovery after the difficult Corona period. The town hall is expecting income from trade tax of EUR 18.5 million this year, which is EUR 3.5 million more than the figure for the previous year. The planned participation in income tax is also going up: from 15.2 to 17.2 million euros.
After the draft budget had already been extensively discussed in advance, its adoption by the municipal council went comparatively quickly. At the request of Maike Vatheuer-Seele (FDP), the committee decided to significantly increase the subsidy for the local music school – from 120,000 to 180,000 euros. The money would be used to raise teachers’ salaries, said Mayor Sander. “So far, compared to other music schools, we’ve had the worst pay. And if you want to keep good teachers, you have to raise their salaries.”
