SPD in Offenbach speaks of shell tricks

• fromEast Tinç

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In Offenbach, the city parliament approves the budget and property tax reduction. The SPD uses the debate for a general settlement.

The Offenbach parties entered the election campaign mode at the last city council meeting in 2020. The SPD used the budget discussion on Thursday for a general settlement with the Tanzania coalition. The CDU and FDP teased the Social Democrats and Lord Mayor Felix Schwenke.

The budget for 2021 was approved with votes against by the opposition parties. The property tax cut by 100 points from 995 to 885 points was passed with two abstentions – even if the opposition parties see it as an election maneuver. The coalition of CDU, Greens, FDP and Free Voters increased the property tax from 600 to 995 points in February 2019.

“It’s been five years of a coalition without a compass, which operates without a clear vision and objective for Offenbach,” said the SPD parliamentary group leader Martin Wilhelm. The Social Democrat spoke of a “shell trick household”. The draft presented on November 5th “was a piece of paper for the garbage can”, criticized Wilhelm. The list of changes, which was published on November 23, included the estimated additional income from the municipal financial equalization scheme (KFA) of around 80 million euros for the next four years. 65 million euros of this “disappeared back into the household as if by magic,” Wilhelm wondered. The parliamentary group leader of the Left, Elke Kress, criticized the fact that the opposition was only informed “at the last minute”.

Wilhelm went on to say that not a cent was saved, although the city receives around ten million euros more annually from the federal government for the cost of accommodation and is optimistic about income from KFA and trade tax for the coming years. Nevertheless, the reserves would melt from 48 million euros to ten million euros by 2024.

The CDU parliamentary group chairman Roland Walter emphasized that the draft budget, like the budget in the past three years, is balanced. “You don’t even know that,” Walter said to the SPD. The current coalition has made a complete change of direction after the “horror years” with the SPD, emphasized Walter. The leader of the Green Group, Ursula Richter, first and foremost highlighted the merits of City Councilor Sabine Groß.

The leader of the FDP parliamentary group, Dominik Schwagereit, emphasized that the lowering of the property tax was “an initial redemption of the promise made at the time” and that Offenbach had grown with this coalition.

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