It is a special situation: District Administrator Fritz Brechtel (CDU) submitted the 2025 budget to the district committee at the beginning of November, but his successor Martin Brandl (CDU) – in office from December 1st – will approve it later in the district council. “All important topics are closely coordinated with Brandl,” assures Brechtel. Therefore, the new district administrator already knows: the previous district administrator is handing over a “highly deficit budget,” which is “not nice, but is due to the general conditions,” says Brechtel.
For the first time, the district budget has a volume of over 300 million euros and stands at 318 million euros. The district levy brings 106.1 million euros into the coffers. A record income, which is primarily due to increased income from trade tax. However, since these are always received by the district with a one-year delay, their significance for future budgets is limited, says Brechtel.
Additional expenditure of around 30 million euros
However, the expected additional income of 15 million euros from levies and subsidies is offset by additional expenditure of 30 million euros. This will increase the deficit from 7 million euros to 23 million euros, explained Brechtel and his treasurer Martin Schnerch in a press interview. “We don’t have an income problem, we have an expenditure problem,” says Brechtel. This is the case in all independent cities and almost all districts in Rhineland-Palatinate. The district’s scope for action is limited because statutory tasks account for 99 percent of expenditure. The bad news for the municipalities in the district is that financial support from the district is difficult.
This time the savings efforts were specifically highlighted in the letter to the Supervision and Services Directorate (ADD), says Brechtel. As of now, the district levy should be kept stable. Because you don’t want to put an undue burden on the communities. In addition, the district has long since made the oft-quoted “maximum efforts” to balance the budget – the levy is one of the highest in Rhineland-Palatinate, and other districts are slowly following suit.
22 new positions are to be filled
Regarding new positions, the departments were first asked if they wanted 35 full-time positions. After an inspection, 22 of them remained. This was considered absolutely necessary in order to be able to fulfill the legal obligations. Brechtel points out that applications for basic security, for example, were not processed quickly due to overload of work. This increases the number of positions in the district administration to 524.68 positions. Tariff increases for employees and civil servants are planned for in the personnel budget, and expenses will rise accordingly. By the way, the largest single item in the budget is the personnel costs for educators in daycare centers at 74 million euros.
Investments are also planned differently: Since 100 percent of the planned projects cannot usually be implemented, 37 million euros are now expected instead of the 43 million euros that would be needed if all the work could actually go ahead as planned. The biggest chunks are the purchase of the Sparkasse Kandel, the new construction of the high school in Rheinzabern – a total of around 30 million euros is expected over several years – and the new construction of daycare centers with a good 4 million euros. The district is participating in the renovation of the Laurentius School in Herxheim, as children from the district also attend this facility. 5.9 million euros are planned for 2025. Fire protection at the Plus Germersheim secondary school costs 2.9 million euros, and 1.6 million euros are earmarked for the central siren warning network.
Swimming lessons are the greatest voluntary service
A look at some individual items: The energy costs for schools are significantly lower and fall from 4.3 euros to 2.6 million. It is said that the savings thanks to the photovoltaic systems on the roof have already been taken into account. For example, expenses for educational assistance have increased because the number of cases has increased. Unlike 2024, there will probably be no special payment from the state for the accommodation of refugees. This brought in at least 7.8 million euros in the current year, half of which was passed on to the municipalities in the district.
The highest voluntary service is swimming lessons for 500,000 euros. And “New Work” is a buzzword. This involves moving a third of the district’s employees to the savings bank building in Kandel. Brechtel announces that they want to offer more citizen services, create more attractive jobs and meet the security needs of employees. 900,000 euros are planned.
