The district budget for the year 2025 has been approved by the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government subject to conditions.
The Minister and Treasurer, Rainer Schinkel, explains:
"Municipal budgets throughout Germany have become out of balance in recent years due to the constant increase in legally standardized expenditure in the youth and social sector. The district of Märkisch-Oderland is no exception.
Two thirds of the €532 million planned expenditure in the district budget goes into both areas. This severely restricts the ability of the districts to act, as the state is not increasing its allocations nearly as much as is necessary.
The district still has reserves, but these may be exhausted by 2026 at the latest. We need loans for the upcoming or ongoing investment measures, which must be approved by the state. For us, this means that we will remain under pressure to consolidate in the coming years. Future investment projects are subject to the proviso that they cannot be delayed or postponed. We will have to concentrate on mandatory tasks and prioritize them. Work processes and administrative procedures must become more efficient, ultimately also with increasing digitalization and the use of AI elements.
We will have to face up to this. However, it remains the task of the state to relieve us of tasks, remove bureaucratic obstacles and ensure better funding.
In difficult times, it is certainly possible to postpone one or two investments. If infrastructure is neglected for years or decades, the damage is much greater, as can be seen in various places, keyword "Deutsche Bahn".
Consolidation means critically scrutinizing every expenditure in the district and we have to manage the balancing act of acting as a service provider for the concerns of our citizens on the one hand, but on the other hand we cannot hire additional staff as we do not have the resources for this and we must always keep an eye on the financial situation of our municipalities - keyword district levy - and not put our interests above theirs.
A condition precedent in the budget approval concerns the new school building in Hoppegarten. We will only be granted credit approval if there is both a construction resolution and approval from the Ministry of Education.
The entire school development plan is currently being discussed in the district council.
The aim must be to maintain a certain degree of capacity to act despite the difficult budgetary situation and this can only be achieved together with the district council."