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fromDorothea Ittmann
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shut down
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The draft budget for 2021 has been introduced – the city expects a deficit of 21.6 million euros. Nevertheless, it is not just about saving.
Rüsselsheim -The corona pandemic has torn a big hole in the city’s coffers – bigger than the magistrate had assumed in the financial report for the first half of the year. In September he had assumed that there would be an eleven million euro financial gap. In the 2021 draft budget, the magistrate now expects a deficit of around 21.6 million euros. Mayor and treasurer Udo Bausch (independent) announced this to the city council yesterday. Income of 198.2 million euros is offset by expenses of 219.8 million euros. The figures are not yet reliable; Bausch pointed out that further updates to the budget could follow.
“Corona is fully reflected in the budget,” said the mayor when introducing the 1000-page figures. A balanced budget, like the one that was presented to Parliament for discussion for the 2020 budget year, has thus moved a long way off. The new reality: there is no excess liquidity to repay current loans. New liquidity loans must be taken out.
Lower tax revenues
The biggest hole is the low business tax revenue. Originally, the city assumed around 28 million euros; only 17.5 million euros remained. There were also slumps in the municipal share of income and sales tax as well as in key allocations, which are currently estimated at 52.56 million euros.
What is missing on the income side weighs heavily on expenses. The largest expense items continue to include the areas of youth welfare, daycare and schools with around 78.1 million euros, about a third of the expenses in the budget.
Personnel expenses rose by around 8 to 70.1 million euros. “More is not acceptable,” said Bausch emphatically. The expenses for goods and services will also increase by around 1.5 to 35.4 million euros. According to the OB, swimming pools in particular are a losing business.
Bausch called for greater spending discipline with a view to the high personnel costs, but he does not want to save at the wrong end in times of crisis, but rather to continue the “positive developments”. This included the development of commercial space, the construction of new residential areas, a clean and safe city center and the expansion of daycare and school supplies. “Drastic savings would be wrong, that would accelerate the crisis even more,” Bausch was certain. Many of the projects in Rüsselsheim are carried out by private investors. Nevertheless, the city has to dig deep into its pockets when it comes to building and renovating schools and daycare centers. The school development plan will continue to be implemented and the investment backlog will be further reduced. At around 42.3 million euros, the item accounts for more than half of the investment volume.
E-mobility and broadband expansion
Then there is the digitization of municipal transport systems and e-mobility as well as broadband expansion. The investments are estimated at a total of 70.7 million euros. In order to be able to cope with all of this, the city must take out further loans in the amount of 56.3 million euros.
The treasurer’s conclusion: “The financial planning is uncertain, but I believe that the investments and economic development will improve the city’s image and that trade tax revenues will rise again.” With the development of residential and commercial areas – namely the new building on Friedensplatz, the Quartier im Ostpark, Eselswiese and the old Opel factory – Rüsselsheim is well positioned to consolidate financially again in the future.
The mayor sees the federal and state governments as obliged to relieve the local authorities – not only in 2020, but also in the coming years. Whether the budget draft 2021 can be approved despite the million deficit, the Darmstadt regional council must examine in each individual case, said Wolfgang Stury, Head of Finance, at a press conference.
The city council will discuss the budget over the next few weeks. The resolution is planned for December. By Dorothea Ittmann
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