“In its session on January 30, 2019, the city council decided on the 2019/20 budget that the city would launch a municipal program to encourage house and apartment owners to install soundproof windows in existing buildings that are located on particularly noisy roads. This program should be funded with €200,000 pa from 2020. A position was also set up to implement this program and corresponding personnel expenses were taken into account in the double budget. Now three years have passed. The funding guideline has not yet been presented to the city council, and there is no trace of such a commissioned funding program in the City of Leipzig’s funding finder.” stated the Greens in their question.“Only the draft of the noise action plan, in its 2nd update, briefly addresses the said support program. On page 31 there is the following passage: ‘The annual financing of €200,000 has already been approved by the council meeting. According to the current status, the budget funds will be provided in the double budget 2023/2024. The funding program is intended to enable owners to install soundproof windows in existing buildings. The development of the funding guideline should start in 2021.’
As early as November 2019, our group asked about the status of the development and implementation of the Council decision. At that time, after all 27 months ago, we were informed that the position had been filled and that the funding guidelines were being drawn up. References to the 2017 noise mapping and above all to the noise action plan would have to be made. At the time, it was assumed that the proposal would be submitted to the city council for approval at the end of the second quarter of 2020 and that it was therefore estimated that a realistic application deadline for active funding was September 30th, 2019.
This subsidy program would have the potential not only to give residents more peace and quiet on particularly busy streets and junctions, but also to achieve a climatic effect in that significantly better thermal insulation effects could be achieved if old windows were removed for this purpose. Against the background of the declared climate emergency, the question arises as to why this program was not advanced and implemented as an active measure long ago.”
Cashed in like that?
but the response from the Environmental Protection Agency then testified, as Green City Councilor Michael Schmidt put it on February 9, “of the administration’s ignorance of the city council’s decisions”. Because in the answer it was short and sweet: “The € 200,000 pa planned for the implementation of the soundproof window program by the city council were not included in the double budget 2021/2022. Due to the resulting lack of immediate need for a guideline, the development was postponed until 2022 as part of the prioritization of tasks.”
Which is simply not true. That became quite clear on February 9th. The funds were set aside in the 2019/2020 double budget. The corresponding staff position was not filled until 2020. But the new employee did not take care of the creation of the necessary specialist funding guideline for the soundproof windows. Because without this guideline, the funds cannot be applied for. According to Rosenthal, the newly hired employee initially took care of the green roof program as a priority. That’s right, the city council had to decide that first, so that the administration could get things going.
But Michael Schmidt was really upset with the statement about the “lack of immediate need”. The need is there. This is shown by every survey on noise pollution in Leipzig. They are particularly affected by vehicle noise. And the people who suffer the most are those who have to live on busy main roads. The apartments there are usually cheaper – precisely because they are so noisy. Soundproof windows are urgently needed here.
But without a specialist funding guideline, the 200,000 euros per year could not be accessed. The money just didn’t flow. And as the response from the Office for Environmental Protection shows, no money was set aside for soundproof window subsidies in the 2021/2022 budget. Justification now: There are no specialist funding guidelines.
Who wasn’t paying attention?
It is quite logical that Green City Councilor Norman Volger then asked very specifically whether there was a passage in Saxony’s municipal code that allowed mayors to simply collect city council decisions.
But that doesn’t exist, confirmed OBM Burkhard Jung, who visibly held back in this debate. Environmental Mayor Heiko Rosenthal could not really justify why the city council decision was not implemented. No extra money is needed to develop the funding guidelines. The responsible office is occupied and can therefore develop the guideline.
And according to information from the Office for Environmental Protection, the guideline is now finally being drawn up. But that was also a piece of information with a catch, as Michael Schmidt found out. It read: “The funding guideline will be passed this year so that it will be available for the possible start of funding in 2023. If the funds required for the funding are not included in the 2023/2024 double budget, it could be that the development of the funding guideline will have to be postponed again in favor of more urgent tasks.”
Schmidt felt that he was being thoroughly teased. Because in order to create the funding guideline, it does not need the funding. However, if the city council again puts 200,000 pa into the 2023/2024 budget and there are no funding guidelines, the funds cannot be applied for again.
It was Burkhard Jung who admitted at this point: “We weren’t all paying attention.” And when Volger didn’t give up on the question of who was responsible for the non-implementation: “We have to implement the resolutions of the city council. Point.”
This can certainly be interpreted as a public rebuke. Environmental Mayor Heiko Rosenthal, his office manager for environmental protection Peter Wasem and the employee responsible for green roofs and soundproof windows can clarify who gets it in their homework book.
At least one of them made sure that the soundproof window program was not used for four years. Four years during which those affected had to live with the noise on the noisy main streets. As a rule, they cannot move because they usually cannot afford other apartments in the Leipzig housing market, which has become tight.
Now one can only hope that the funding guideline will actually be completed and approved by the Office for Environmental Protection in 2022. The city council will ensure that the 200,000 euros are available from 2023. He’s done his homework.
The debate of February 9, 2022
Video: Live stream from the city of Leipzig
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