Red pencil is not scheduled in Dietzenbach

• fromAnnette Schlegl

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  shut down

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The city councils of Dietzenbach decided to spare citizens the requested cuts in social benefits as well as the planned tax increases.

The corona pandemic can also have such effects: The Dietzenbachers have been spared having to pay more property tax this year. Herbert Wagner, chairman of WIR-BfD, said tax increases could not be conveyed to citizens in these difficult times, in a special meeting of the main and finance committee on Thursday evening.

Corona had previously caused problems. Because of the virus, Dietzenbach was still without a household. The March meeting, in which the city councilors were supposed to decide on the double budget for the years 2020/21, fell victim to the Covid 19 restrictions. The Hessian Ministry of the Interior then suggested that the budget be approved by May 15, otherwise the city would have to carry out a very labor-intensive update to reflect the current situation.

As it was already foreseeable that the Corona crisis would result in tax shortfalls, 71 amendments to the budget were subsequently received. Above all, the joint proposals from the CDU and FDP were drastic: they wanted to cut many voluntary benefits in order to avoid the planned increase in property tax from 600 to 720 points.

Before the special session on Thursday evening, this brought up numerous citizens who had been sensitized by the Arbeiterwohlfahrt (AWO) by e-mail, in social media and by newsletter. The AWO was the most affected by the proposed cuts: the CDU and FDP believed that the subsidies for their family education center, social services and migrant work for senior citizens should be canceled, as well as the subsidies for the adult education center. The music school and the city library should receive less money than before.

Petition and demo

Within 24 hours, the AWO district association launched an online petition at openpetition.de, which found 650 signatories, and let 50 citizens have their say, who expressed their displeasure in writing. The association also organized the demonstration in front of the town hall, in which around 150 citizens with mouthguards took part on Thursday evening. “Stop the social clearcut in Dietzenbach” could be read on many posters, but also sentences like “Corona survived, but now killed by politics”.

About two hours later it was clear that the hastily organized demo in front of the town hall was not necessary. Inside, the CDU and FDP had withdrawn their savings proposals. The committee members decided on WIR-BfD’s proposal to leave the tax rates unchanged and to take the missing money from the city’s fixed assets so that the budget can be approved. Mayor Jürgen Rogg (non-partisan) said that an intergroup “Local Finance” would be set up to think about ways to save. External experts should also join in.

Rogg also had the first figures on how Corona could affect the city: five to six million fewer trade tax revenues, less income tax and less gaming machine tax. “Seven to eight million shortfalls,” he estimated, “plus a million additional costs.” Money that has to come from somewhere. The citizens’ protest should not have been in vain.

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