At the council meeting on 20.02.2025, the council of the pilgrimage town of Kevelaer adopted the budget bylaws and budget for 2025. The municipal budget compares all expected income and expenditure for a year and determines what the town can spend its limited funds on. This sets the course for the city's development.
The budget was discussed in advance at the meetings of the main and finance committee on December 3, 2024 and January 30, 2025. Against the backdrop of the city's drastically deteriorating financial situation, tax increases, club contributions, grant applications from various institutions and the need for upcoming investments were the topics of discussion for the budget. However, politicians were not prepared to finance the drastically rising costs in various areas of responsibility, particularly in the social and youth sectors, through tax increases. To make matters worse, the current economic situation is also affecting Kevelaer and it is currently not possible to predict whether trade tax revenues in particular will remain constant. The key allocations from the state remain relatively constant at € 4.8 million and therefore also do not compensate for the negative developments. As a result, the 2025 budget plan shows a deficit of around € 6.3 million.
This result already takes into account a savings concept presented by the administration with a volume of around € 800,000, of which the Council ultimately approved € 720,000.
Against the backdrop of the property tax reform coming into force on January 1, 2025, the council decided to raise the assessment rates for property tax A and B from January 1, 2025 only to the new revenue-neutral assessment rates (property tax A 490%, property tax B 585%), thus refraining from a tax increase, although a further increase would have been justifiable in view of the financial development. However, the majority of the council was of the opinion that a further burden on citizens already affected by price increases was not justifiable.
At € 47.2 million, taxes and similar levies account for around 54% of all municipal income. Even if the further development of trade tax can only be calculated with reservations due to the overall economic conditions, trade tax is the largest revenue item in the budget with estimated income of € 22 million.
Despite a savings concept for the personnel area presented by the administration, which is associated with savings of around € 450,000, personnel costs are increasing by 8.4 percent, in particular due to collective wage agreements.
Even if the forecast for the following years from 2025 is slightly better, shortfalls of around € 3.5 to 4.6 million are also expected for the following years up to 2028. These projected shortfalls mean that the equalization reserve, i.e. the city's "savings book", will be completely depleted by the end of 2027. During the debates on the budget, the treasurer expressly pointed out that, taking into account the current forecasts, it is likely that the budget will become insolvent even sooner. Voluntary expenditure would then only be possible to a very limited extent and significant cuts would have to be expected in all areas.
Upcoming investments
While € 29.2 million was earmarked for investments in 2024, the 2025 budget provides for € 9.5 million, of which € 5.7 million is for construction measures. The largest items here are the completion of the fire station in Twisteden (€ 550,000), the initial planning costs for the expansion of the Hubertus elementary school to three classes (€ 375,000), the expansion of the bicycle parking facility at the train station (€ 469,000), the renewal of the heating in the Wetten changing room building (€ 300,000) and the construction of refugee accommodation (€ 3.4 million). 1.2 million was included in the budget for the acquisition of land and buildings.
In total, investment loans amounting to € 5 million are to be taken out in 2025 in order to drive forward the expansion of infrastructure in Kevelaer.