Investments in schools & transport: District administrator presents budget for 2023
In the next and last district council meeting for this year on December 15 in the multi-purpose hall in Goddelsheim, District Administrator Jürgen van der Horst will present and justify the budget statutes and the budget of the Waleck-Frankenberg district for the coming year 2023. This will initiate the public budget deliberations for the coming year.
Accordingly, the Waldeck-Frankenberg district is planning on revenues of around 297.7 million euros in the 2023 earnings budget. Compared to last year, this is additional income of around 37 million euros. As expenditures, about 301.5 million euros are planned, which corresponds to an increase of about 37.4 million euros compared to the previous year. Thus, including the extraordinary result, the district is planning an overall result of minus 2.7 million euros.
In the area of social services, expenditures will increase by around 14.8 million euros; these are offset by around 10 million euros in additional revenues. Both are predominantly due to the current refugee situation, in which the district will continue to provide care and support for those seeking protection. A further 11.5 million euros relate to the school sector: This increase is largely due to higher operating costs for electricity, gas and school transportation, among other things.
School levy increases, district levy decreases
After the school levy for the cities and municipalities was reduced by half a percentage point in each of the years 2020 and 2021, the additional expenditure now necessitates an increase of 2.37 percent to a total of 18.87 percent. In return, however, the general district levy for the cities and municipalities will be reduced by 0.87 percent to 29.04 percent. Reserves from previous years are still available to compensate for the deficit in the results budget.
17, 3 million euros for schools, 11.9 million euros for transport
The Waldeck-Frankenberg district continues to plan investments of around 43.3 million euros in the coming year, after investing around 50.5 million euros in 2022. Of the investment volume for the coming fiscal year, 24.4 million euros will be financed by loans. As 12.3 million euros in existing debt is to be repaid at the same time, this means net new borrowing of 11.8 million euros.
Of the investments, around 17.3 million euros are attributable to the investment area of the district as the school authority - in particular for the modernization, renovation and new construction of school buildings in Waldeck-Frankenberg. However, further investments from the federal and state digital pact are also planned. Around 11.9 million euros have been budgeted for investments in the area of district road construction and transport: The planned construction program includes the expansion of district road 43 between Haina and Bad Wildungen-Armsfeld and district road 50 between Immighausen and Ober-Ense.
A change is envisaged in the financing of the Frankenberg district hospital as part of the budget for the coming year: For the fiscal year 2023, the plans in the earnings budget provide for deficit compensation for the district hospital. Apart from this, however, there will be no further subsidies in the results budget, investment grants, loans or increases in share capital.
The budget statutes and budget plan will first be presented to the members of the district council at the upcoming meeting and justified by the district administrator, and then forwarded to the district council committees for discussion. In one of the next district council meetings in the new year, it will be discussed by the parliamentary groups and finally a joint draft will be adopted, which will be submitted to the Kassel Regional Council as the supervisory authority for review and approval.