The merger means a lot of paperwork for city employees, but it’s not a big change for the people. Everything is handled by the city of Baden, services are offered in the town hall of Baden and therefore its rules also apply. For many, there is reason to be happy when it comes to taxes. As a result of the merger, Baden’s tax rate of 92 percent currently applies. Turgi had a much higher 113 so far.
Aarau and Unterentfelden?
A merger between Aarau and Unterentfelden has been a problem for years. As part of the “Future Region of Aarau”, the voters in Unterentfelden had already said that they are in favor of the development of a regional union project in 2020. Because Oberentfelden and Suhr withdrew from the project, the other communities in Aarau, Unterentfelden and Densbüren decided not to continue.
A lot has happened since then and a new effort has been made. At the end of 2023, the city council of Aarau and the city council of Unterentfelden decided on a project schedule and the necessary documents for the merger on January 1, 2028. You can find the detailed plan here.
In this year the focus was on funding the merger studies. After the Unterentfelden community meeting agreed to 40,000 francs at the beginning of June, the Aarau residents’ council also investigated a loan. It was around 250,000 francs, less contributions from the partner community. The residents’ council approved the loan by 38 votes to seven. Aarau had 22,254 inhabitants at the end of 2023. In Unterentfelden there were 4,526.
Birra and Lupfig
Initially, in addition to Biorra and Lupfig, the communities of Birrhard and Mülligen were supposed to be part of the community integration. As part of the “Future Division-Birrfeld” project, a large merger of the four communities was investigated. But in Mülligen, first the local council and then the local assembly opposed a matching loan. So the other three communities had to stop the project for a while and start again. However, Birrhard left the project later because the merger was sent to the Gmeind bachab.
In March this year, working groups finally began to examine whether a merger between Birra and Lupfig was worthwhile. Represented in the groups are, on the one hand, the workers of the two areas and, on the other hand, residents who have been asked to participate in the analyses. Two representatives from each of the two municipal administrations and two to four people from the population should form a working group. But then many more people from both towns came forward who wanted work, so that the work groups sometimes became twice as large as expected.
It is gratifying that so many people from the communities react to the union and want to get involved. “But since the groups are now bigger, the compensation for meetings is higher than we expected,” said mayor René Grütter to Radio Argovia. For this reason, and also because there are additional costs, especially when analyzing the financial structures of the two communities, more than expected from the original approved loan of 170,000 francs has already been used and an additional loan is needed this way it is possible to continue with further clarification regarding the union of the two communities.
The people must therefore vote on an additional credit of 44,000 francs per town. The loans will be voted on at the community meetings in Birra (December 12) and Lupfig (November 20). At this time, most of the work in the groups has been stopped. If the people of Birrer and Lupfiger accept the two additional loans, they will still have to wait out the four-week protest period. According to the plans, the working groups should start their work again in the Spring. As a result, unification would not be possible until 2028 at the earliest.
Brugg and Villnachern
Discussions about a common future were held between the communities as early as 2016. Villnachern was the first to start. As there was an ongoing merger project between Brugg and Schinznach-Bad at the time, the plans were not pursued. In November 2020, the city and town councils again discussed opportunities, risks and ways of closer cooperation between communities.
It was decided in May 2022 to move forward with the study of a municipal merger as of January 1, 2026. The residents’ council of Brugg and the Villnachern town council then approved a project planning loan for the development of a merger agreement in November 2022.
Things then got really tough at the ballot box vote on September 22 this year. The voters of the city of Brugg approved the contract for the union of Brugg and Villnachern with a vote of 48.1 percent with 2,108 to 1,494 no votes. The contract was also accepted in Villnachern with 467 yes to 358 no vote. The turnout was 72.3 percent. Therefore, the merger will take effect on January 1, 2026.
Schneisingen, Lengnau, Endingen and Tegerfelden
The topic of union has also been on the table in Surbtal for a long time. In the autumn of 2022, the question gradually became concrete. A survey about a possible union was launched in the four communities. Almost 70 percent were in favor of merger review, like this “Aargauer Zeitung” reported at the time. The following year, there were votes on a project loan of 60,000 francs for merger review, which was accepted.
Voters are expected to vote on the union in May 2025. But not everyone is happy about that. The opposition stands with the neutral committee “gemeinden-erhalten.ch” and the slogan “Cooperation instead of union”.
As a result, there are many who do not understand why four active, independent communities should come together needlessly and in a hurry and why so much effort goes into union ready, the committee writes. It is important that these voices are heard. Because there is a risk that they will overcome the information policy and the pace of the “union investigators”.
2024-10-06 11:03:15
#current #status #Aargau #integration #projects
