Budget 2025: North Hessian districts sign resolution

The budget situation of the North Hessian districts is at its limit. District Administrator Jürgen van der Horst and the heads of the districts of Kassel, Werra-Meißner, Schwalm-Eder and Hersfeld-Rotenburg have drawn attention to this in a joint resolution:

It's five past twelve! There is no money!
As taxpayers, citizens rightly demand an intact infrastructure with modern schools, renovated roads, good medical care, fast internet and speedy processing of their requests. The federal and state governments have passed many good laws in recent years, but have completely ignored long-term funding. Local authorities have to fulfil state mandates, but are not provided with the necessary financial resources to ensure their implementation in the long term. This is increasingly undermining local self-government and thus the scope for local organisation.

The distribution of tasks no longer works
The German economy is stagnating. With the threat of site closures in industry, many thousands of jobs are at stake. This development is also having an impact on tax revenues at all levels. Local authorities have now reached the end of their capacity. Massive austerity measures are looming and cuts are necessary in all areas of public services. At the same time, the already scarce resources for voluntary tasks are being cut further. The financing of clubs, music schools, culture and important programmes to strengthen democracy, integration and diversity will no longer function to the usual extent. The population will be increasingly overburdened, with serious consequences for our society.

Federal and state governments are challenged
The federal and state governments are shifting responsibility downwards. It is becoming increasingly difficult for the administrative districts to fulfil their duties as service providers for the municipalities belonging to the districts and therefore for the local people. The payment of transfer and social benefits is a compulsory task. Added to this are exploding costs in youth welfare and rising levies. At the same time, the municipal level is taking on more and more responsibility for the hospital landscape - and this with ever worsening financial conditions. The right to an all-day place at primary school, the extension of housing benefit and the Deutschland Ticket are just a few examples.

The districts do not have any means of achieving the tasks imposed on them and the associated costs in a socially acceptable manner. The only way to cover the district budget is to increase the district levy. Against the backdrop of the sharp rise in transfer payment obligations, this has now effectively degenerated into a "social benefits and youth welfare levy". The administrative districts are no longer able to fulfil their legal obligation to balance out the different financial strength of the areas belonging to the district, let alone set priorities for the development of the district areas. In a sluggish economy with falling tax revenues, a further dip into the municipal coffers cannot be the answer to a structural problem. Further levy increases will have a massive impact on the community. It will become increasingly difficult to get volunteers interested in local politics if there are no opportunities to shape the future, as it is the volunteer politicians on the ground who are ultimately responsible for the citizens in the towns and municipalities.

Receivables

• If the local family, as the first place of democratic experience and an important pillar of our coexistence, is no longer able to act, trust in state institutions will continue to decline. This cannot be allowed to continue! Legislators must act now and ensure adequate funding for all levels of government!
• We are calling for an adjustment to the distribution of tax revenue. One example could be the redistribution of VAT, as sales are also generated locally, districts and municipalities should be involved appropriately.
• We demand that the full costs of all-day care be covered. At the very least, investment and personnel subsidies are needed.
• We reject an expansion of services if the full assumption of costs by the federal/state government is not guaranteed.
• We call on the federal and state governments to consider the impact of proposed legislation on the municipal level from the outset. The constitutional principle must apply: Whoever orders services also pays for them!
• We call for all relevant (social) benefit laws to be reviewed in terms of their effectiveness, appropriateness and financial viability.
• We are calling for the restoration of constitutionally guaranteed local self-government for the districts, which has now been eroded by excessive, detailed federal and state legislation. This includes the dismantling of standards and, above all, the rejection of detailed regulations by legislators and/or ordinance-makers.
• At the same time, the provincial and federal court level must also deal with increasingly detailed requirements for the municipal level.
• Administrative regulations, additional requirements and a love of detail have contributed to significantly more bureaucracy and an exponential increase in personnel costs for the districts. We are calling for this to be reduced and for implementation competences to be shifted to the administrative districts.