Dispute in the Wasserburg local council: record loans decided for 2025!

Dispute in the Wasserburg local council: record loans decided for 2025!

The Wasserburg municipal council approved the budget for 2025 on Tuesday, July 13, 2025. The budget statutes were passed with 10 votes to 5. With this draft budget, the municipality plans to take out loans totaling 5.5 million euros by 2028 to finance important investment projects.

The total budget for 2025 amounts to almost 22 million euros. Around 13 million euros go to ongoing expenses in the administrative budget. The capital budget provides around 8.9 million euros for larger projects, including canal construction and the renovation of the waterfront promenade. A loan of 1.11 million euros is planned for 2025, and the municipality can also borrow up to 1 million euros as a bridging loan.

Borrowing and associated challenges

Mayor Harald Voigt gave several reasons for taking out the loan: rising personnel costs, an increased district levy and long-term investment projects. The most important projects include the renovation of the sewer infrastructure, technical renovations in the “Aquamarine” leisure pool and necessary measures at the sewage treatment plant in Lindau, the costs of which Wasserburg is obliged to cover.

However, a difficult financial situation is predicted for 2025. The municipality will not receive any key allocations this year, which corresponds to a decrease of 1.6 million euros compared to last year. The district levy will rise to almost 3.7 million euros. Treasurer Veronika Yagussevich explained that the decline in revenue was mainly due to the strong tax capacity in 2023, which was influenced by high trade tax revenues.

Criticism and savings in the local council

The local council is under pressure to make savings. Measures have already been taken in areas such as sewer renovations, tourism promotion, personnel and material costs. Local councilor Michael Lohrmann sharply criticizes the current spending policy and calls for a significant reduction in spending. He received headwind from local councilor Beate Meßmer, who defended the spending policy and pointed out the necessary investments. In addition to these questions, a discussion is also underway about sewer renovations, which is being called for by local councilor Werner Göser.

The medium-term financial planning does not provide for any further borrowing for the years 2026 and 2027, provided that the savings measures take effect. A second construction phase of the peninsula is scheduled to begin in autumn 2027 and be financed in 2028. A special meeting before the summer break was also called for to clarify open points, such as personnel costs and property sales.

Treasurer Yagussevich emphasized that the budget planning represents an authorization to spend and not an obligation to spend. In this context, the municipal code (GemO) regulates borrowing, which can be done either to finance investments or to ensure liquidity. Investment loans may only be taken out for specific purposes, which is stipulated in the budget statutes. The approval requirement for loans to secure liquidity is also part of the legal framework that is intended to ensure the municipality's financial ability to act.

Further information about the framework conditions for municipal borrowing is available in a comprehensive article kommunalbrevier.de to find.

The challenges for the Wasserburg local council remain high, while at the same time the need to invest in infrastructure and services is becoming increasingly urgent. The coming months will be crucial in determining how the community manages these tasks.