The Sand municipality‘s budget for the current year 2024 was drawn up unusually late at the most recent municipal council meeting in October. Mayor Jörg Kümmel explained that the reason for this was a system-related change in the software program used by the manufacturer. The old financial program, based on the principle of cameralistics, was replaced by a new one, which is fundamentally based on the system of doppik, which was given a cameralistic robe.
Problems with transferring data from the old program version, major changes due to different display systems and a completely different approach, coupled with training and further education and system errors and system problems that had to be eliminated again and again, took their toll, says Kümmel. At the same time, the head of the community also saw the advantage that the 2024 budget has already been almost completed. Larger expenses for planning and projects that can no longer be realized in 2024 are almost not included, explained Kümmel.
District levy is taken into account
The total volume of the 2024 budget is around eleven and a half million euros, of which 7,107,098 euros relate to the administrative budget and 4,410,025 euros to the asset budget. The transfer from the administrative budget to the asset budget amounts to 97,286 euros.
The most important income in the administrative budget is the income tax contribution with 2,023,000 euros, the key allocations with 1,199,916 euros, the trade tax with 700,000 euros and the property tax B with 255,000 euros. On the expenditure side, the district levy at 1,872,471 euros and personnel expenses at 1,745,578 euros are the largest items. These two items account for more than 50 percent of the budget in the administrative budget.
Due to the increase in the assessment rate by the district administration by 3.7 percent, the district levy for the municipality of Sand increases by 267,000 euros. “Unfortunately, this year, in addition to a decline in key allocations, there has also been a significant increase in the district levy, which has probably not yet reached its peak. A further increase in the district levy in the future will have a lasting impact on our financial scope,” said the mayor Caraway seeds.
Several large individual investments
The largest individual investments this year are the expansion of the “St. Martin” kindergarten (1,871,000 euros), road construction costs in the redevelopment area “St. Nikolausgasse/Pfarrgasse” and Hauptstrasse (405,000 euros), remaining payments for the renovation of the Nikolausgasse/Pfarrgasse sewer network (184,000 euros ), a new construction vehicle (156,000 euros) and building construction work at the school (129,000 euros).
No new loans need to be taken out in 2024. The debt level of the municipality of Sand will therefore fall from 637,500 euros on December 31, 2023 to 550,000 euros on December 31, 2024. At the same time, the per capita debt will decrease from 205 euros to 176 euros per resident.
Adjustment of the assessment rates decided
Due to the change in the law on property tax on January 1, 2025, the local council also decided to adjust the assessment rates. As of next year, property tax A will remain stable at 350 percent, while the assessment rate for property tax B will be halved from 350 percent to 175 percent. As a result of the property tax reform, the values of the measurement amounts in the two areas have also shifted, so that overall a minimal additional income of around 14,000 euros can be expected in the municipal coffers.
However, there are still some unknowns. The measurement amount is only available for around 90 percent of the properties and an objection procedure is underway at the tax office for around 10 percent. For this reason, the amount of property tax will probably be on the agenda again next year when more precise figures are available.
