Hesse-Nassau passes first double budget – EKHN

The Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau (EKHN) passed the first double budget in its history on Saturday (December 2, 2023) at its autumn meeting in Frankfurt am Main after intensive debate. The budget envisages a volume of around 737 million euros for 2024 and almost 744 million euros for 2025.

Personnel is the largest item in the budget

The largest item in the budget is personnel expenses, each amounting to around 330 million euros. Around 340 million euros in allocations are planned in the new budget for work at the municipality and deanery level. Parishes and deaneries receive adjusted allocations to compensate for additional burdens and to compensate for inflation.

A quarter of church taxes for diakonia, education, children and youth

Almost 50 million euros in own funds are earmarked for work in daycare centers, among other things. The future fund, which was set up to last several years and totaled 46 million euros, was also expanded. In the coming years, special tasks will be increasingly addressed, including climate protection, digitalization and the search for skilled workers. Overall, the EKHN spends more than a quarter of its church tax revenue on the areas of diakonia, children, youth and family as well as education and training.

Revenues remain at the same level

The budget presented expects church tax revenues to remain almost the same in the next two years at 540 and 543 million euros respectively. This year church taxes are expected to be around 530 million euros. To cover the budget, an estimated 20 million euros will have to be withdrawn from the reserves in the 2024/2025 double budget.