Grief for Walter Rauch: Schöneck loses SPD veteran and mayor candidate

Grief for Walter Rauch: Schöneck loses SPD veteran and mayor candidate

Schöneck, Deutschland - Schöneck is in shock! The sudden death of Walter Rauch (66), an important SPD politician, shaked the municipal council. Rauch, who served as a committee chair and group leader for over 40 years, died of a heart attack in his apartment on Friday. At the meeting on Wednesday evening, the municipal council honored its longtime member with a moving minute's silence. But grief quickly gave way to the anger over the unfinished administrative applications that were now on the table.

The FWG parliamentary group, led by Matthias Geisler, brought up several applications, some of which are old for over a decade and have never been completed. "These are file corpses that have to be eliminated!", Geisler and mentioned examples such as the long overdue development plan Uferstrasse called. The talks to increase the attractiveness of the sports clubs, which have been in the sand since 2021, were also sharply criticized. Mayor Carina Wacker (CDU) confirmed that the municipal council was never informed about ongoing talks and promised to change this. The applications are now submitted to the building committee for advice.

urgency application causes excitement

Another request for urgency to connect the Konrad Zuse-Ring to the northern roundabout caused excitement. The 2018 cost plan has doubled from 921,139.23 euros to almost 2 million euros! Despite ongoing construction work, there was no decision on the connection, which visibly annoyed the mayor. "If we do not approve this now, we face damages!" Wacker warned. The political groups expressed their displeasure with the failures of the administration and called for a rapid processing of the problems. The urgency application was accepted with only one no voice and eight abstentions.

In the shade of these discussions, there is a property tax reform that brings new tax rates for Schöneck from January 1, 2025. Property owners who acquired their properties before 1964 have to expect higher payments. Property tax A for agricultural and forestry companies increases to 607 percentage points, while property tax B for other properties is increased to 857 percentage points. The fees for wastewater will also increase, and the music school will in future cost 100,000 euros annually, which means an increase of 23,000 euros. The community has to adjust to deeper bags!