Unterkirnach: Money for school, hall and table football

The Unterkirnach municipal administration, with Mayor Andreas Braun and Treasurer Bastian Pflugsdörfer, submitted the budget for the coming year to the municipal council earlier than in many years. Savings measures taken in recent years are paying off. This is the first budget with a positive result since 2021. But because of the high level of investment, the community will not be able to do without borrowing.

According to this draft, the resulting budget ends with an estimated surplus of 197,200 euros. The largest items of ordinary income that change compared to the previous year are trade tax income with an additional 170,000 euros and the key allocations with a further 834,600 euros. However, there are also high expenses. For example, the temporary solution with containers has to be paid for during the renovation of the Roggenbach School.

The financial budget reflects all incoming and outgoing payments of a municipality. For Unterkirnach it is expected to close next year with an estimated cash surplus of 550,700 euros. However, this is offset by high investments. Cash inflows from investing activities amount to 1,183,200 euros. Investment expenditure of 3,660,700 is planned.

A building site for an apartment building is to be sold on Sommerberg. Two property sales are to take place in Marbental and an area of ​​2,000 square meters in the Abendgrund commercial area is to find a new owner. If no property is purchased on Sommerberg, the municipality must buy back the development measure for the vacant land from the developer for 440,000 euros.

Expenses of 750,000 euros are planned for the renovation of the Roggenbach School next year. The work will cost a total of six million euros. The community expects significant subsidies from school construction funding and the compensation stock.

The renovation of the changing rooms in the Schlossberghalle is expected to cost 723,000 euros next year. This is also offset by grants from Bafa, the renovation program and the compensation stock.

In addition, there are some further investments in the draft budget for 2024. These include the renovation of the artificial turf pitch (290,000 euros with a subsidy of 90,000 euros from the sports association), the broadband expansion (500,000 euros) and a planning rate for the modernization of the sewage treatment plant. It is still unclear whether Unterkirnach will keep its own system or be connected to the Villingen system. In addition, the renovation of the Hubert-Blessing-Weg is listed again among the major measures and the purchase of a warehouse for 120,000 euros is also planned. The warehouse could be a hall for the fools’ guild on the former election site. The bottom line is that Unterkirnach will not be able to get by without taking out a loan of 2.4 million euros.

The water and wastewater prices are currently still being calculated. Higher rates apply for burst pipes, the maintenance of the pipeline network, rising interest rates and also for various investments. As a result, the wastewater fee will probably rise to two euros per cubic meter. The price of water is also expected to rise to 1.80 to two euros per cubic meter. At 1.46 euros, Unterkirnach was the cheapest municipality in the district.

Among other things, because the district levy was increased by 2.5 points for the current year and Unterkirnach therefore has to shoulder a good 70,000 additional expenses every year, Mayor Andreas Braun is no longer ruling out an increase in property tax. For the meeting on November 28th, the administration wants to develop a template to at least partially offset these expenses.

The Schedule

The budget will be discussed with the parliamentary groups of the local council on Tuesday, November 28th at 6 p.m. at the meeting of the Unterkirnach local council. The mayor plans to approve the budget for Tuesday, December 12th, also at 6 p.m. Then it will probably become clear which fees and charges will increase.