Milion pollution for counties: Exploded daycare construction costs!

Milion pollution for counties: Exploded daycare construction costs!

In Rhineland-Palatinate, the counties face enormous financial challenges. A judgment of the Higher Administrative Court from December 2022 obliges the counties to bear 40 percent of the construction costs for municipal daycare centers-and retrospectively from July 1, 2021. This has far-reaching consequences, especially for the Rhein-Pfalz district, where District Administrator Clemens Körner assumes between 4.5 and 10 million euros. These additional payments result from daycare projects that have been implemented in the district in recent years.

For the affected counties in the Vorder- and Südpfalz, this means that they have to adapt their financial reserves strongly. The new regulation raises the question of how these additional financial burdens can be handled in the coming years. "What we will have to pay in the coming years is still completely unclear," said Körner, pointing out that the previous grants were variable, depending on the financial strength of the individual communities.

additional payments and adjustments to the funding guidelines

The affected counties must now check all previous funding applications since the set key date. For example, the district of Südliche Weinstraße has already adapted its funding guidelines and informed that all applications submitted since July 1, 2021 have to be checked. A spokeswoman said that it still had to be determined how much money it is in the end.

A similar picture emerges in the district of Germersheim, where the district administration is currently working on a new funding directive. This is expected to be treated in the committees by the end of the year. There, you expect additional costs of around 11.5 million euros, which are planned in the household for grants from July 1, 2021. Estimates indicate that the grants for daycare construction costs in Germersheim could even triple.

In contrast, a new funding guideline has been in force in the Bad Dürkheim district since May. This provides for a grant of 40 percent, which benefits two newly built daycare centers in Neidenfels and Bad Dürkheim. However, the repayments to the municipalities were low, with a volume of only “a few ten thousand euros”. Nevertheless, the municipalities are optimistic about impending investments.

Financial uncertainties of the counties

A serious question also remains how the additional costs can really be covered. Andreas Göbel, managing director of the Rhineland-Palatinate district council, made it clear that the counties have not expected any additional grants from the state or federal government, since it is a municipal mandatory task. The exact financial effects have so far been unclear, but it is feared that they will be "not insignificant".

The upcoming challenges throw a shadow on the plans of everyone involved: it is uncertain which financial reserves will be necessary and whether the municipal cash registers can bear these loads. For citizens and politics in the affected regions, the question arises as to how the future daycare projects are to be financed without excessive stress.

For detailed aspects of the current situation and what other steps are planned, it remains to be observed how the individual counties position themselves according to their findings. The financial requirements and necessities could have a significant impact on the municipal infrastructure and childcare in Rhineland-Palatinate, as several sources have already shown according to swr .