Speech OB 11.03.2009

Economic stimulus package II

Ladies and gentlemen of the City Council,

Today's unscheduled meeting of the City Council is the result of and part of the Federal Government's attempt to counteract an ongoing macroeconomic crisis through legislation.

A crisis that hardly anyone can say exactly when it began.

A crisis that no one can seriously predict how it will develop and how long it will last.

And where a precise diagnosis fails, it is difficult to draw up an effective recovery plan.

At the beginning of the year, the German government decided on a second economic stimulus programme with a total volume of 50 billion euros.
The aim is to secure jobs and strengthen potential growth forces. It is hoped that the country will be in a better position after the crisis than before, according to the Federal Chancellor. An important component of this is the 13 billion programme for municipal investment.

What does this mean for our city? In figures: 37 million euros We can invest an additional 18.5 million euros this year and next. Together with the investments of 74.5 million euros already approved in the 2009 budget, this means a total of over 90 million euros this year alone.

An investment volume that we last exceeded in the years 2000 to 2002.
In order to enable the rapid deployment of funds as desired by the Federal Government, we have to decide today on the utilisation of 37 million euros.

7.4 million euros - 20 per cent of the total volume - will be our own contribution. Due to the very favourable economic development of the past three years - including 2008 - we can draw this large amount from the reserves. However, we must also be aware that this will make it more difficult to balance the budget in the coming years.

And we must also be aware that the disruption to the global economy has also reached Chemnitz.

Many companies are working off their current order backlog, which is good in some cases. This will secure jobs for months to come. What comes after that remains to be seen. The decline in orders since October 2008 has also been considerable for our companies. For this reason, it remains to be seen whether the planned revenue from trade and income taxes will reach the city's budget in full as planned.

This makes our decisions today all the more responsible for meeting the target of the investment programme.

Address,

Many of us and also the citizens certainly agree that the majority of the money - 65 per cent - should be invested in schools and daycare centres. This is fully in line with our investment priorities over the last three years.

So far, we have planned 33 million euros for investment in schools for 2009 and 2010. Now, with the additional 17.5 million euros, we will be investing around 50 million euros in our city's schools over the two years. An unprecedented investment programme.

Mr Brehm has tried to combine urgency with the federal requirements - mainly energy-efficient refurbishment and the requirement to invest half of the funds in 2009 and half in 2010.

The programme focuses on special schools and primary schools. We are all aware of the considerable need in these important schools.

At this point, I would like to expressly appeal to the state government to respect and accept our resolutions, especially those concerning investment in primary schools.

We also want primary schools in neighbourhoods with a lower population density. Primary schools are an important prerequisite for young families to live there.

What use are all the necessary, correct and sometimes controversial discussions about sustainable urban development if cities are put on a leash by the allocation of funding and entire neighbourhoods are strangled by the questioning of primary schools?

Address,

In the case of day-care centres, we are assuming a largely uncontroversial procedure. Mrs Lüth is primarily proposing measures that are urgent and can be implemented in 2009/2010. The focus is on energy-efficient refurbishment and fire protection. As the state funding programmes must also be taken as a basis here, further funding aspects must be taken into account.

Overall, investments in our daycare centres will increase by 50 percent to a total of 15.7 million euros in 2009/2010. Here too, the economic stimulus programme has enabled us to make an unprecedented level of investment.

And despite all this, there are still many schools and daycare centres that also need to be renovated and modernised. The refurbishment backlog of recent decades cannot be cleared even with this considerable financial commitment. But we are making progress school by school, day-care centre by day-care centre.

Salutation,

We can invest 35 per cent of the money, i.e. 13 million euros, in a number of areas of urban infrastructure specified by the federal government - and presumably further restricted by the state.

We are deliberately focussing on sport. There is no doubt that we have a lot of catching up to do in the area of sport. Starting in 2007/2008, we invested 1.9 million euros in sports facilities operated by clubs for the first time.

For 2009/2010, we are now proposing to further strengthen popular sport in particular with 5.7 million euros. This will more than double investment in our sports facilities in 2009/2010 to a total of 10 million euros.

Address,

It was not easy for us to select from the more than 300 proposals for measures put forward by the administration, by you from the parliamentary groups, by our local councils, advisory councils, hospital and other public service organisations, institutions and potential investors.

The aim of reducing deficits, promoting urban development and strengthening the regional economy is at the centre of our efforts.

The originally planned modernisation and expansion of the Stadthalle into a conference centre in the heart of the city unfortunately had to be cancelled. In the judgement of the managing director, the time frame is too tight, especially for this project.

Nevertheless, we should endeavour to put this investment on the agenda in the coming years.

Address,

We suggest that you invest in active noise protection. This is a long-awaited investment for all residents, for example on Leipziger Strasse, who will feel the benefits. However, the measure on Gustav-Freytag-Straße / Karl-Immermann-Straße, which has been moved up, will have to be discussed critically today.

I know that the proposal to invest in our town hall is being pondered. Can we - should we - do this now?

We are proposing that you invest in the technical infrastructure because some of it is very old. We also propose that you restore the sooty sandstone façade, which has turned dark grey over the decades. Our town hall is not a city palace, but a place of work and a meeting place. It is one of the few historical buildings that have been preserved in the town centre - a calling card and point of identification. In 2011, the city's first building, designed by Richard Möbius, will be 100 years old. I am sure that many Chemnitz residents will be delighted when the town hall is restored to its original façade. And our guests would be amazed.

Other measures, some of them smaller, such as investments in the castle church, the Schlossberg Museum or accessibility, complement the measures to upgrade our diverse municipal infrastructure.

Address,

We have proposed a package of measures that we know will help to secure employment in many areas of the building trade.

We will implement the simplified award procedures. The aim is to award many contracts in the city and in the region. To this end, we have coordinated with the chambers. We will continue this dialogue. Within the administration, we need an appropriate process of control and monitoring by the Central Procurement Office and the Audit Office. We already have good proposals for this, which draw conclusions from past mistakes and still enable a speedy award procedure.

Transparency is one of the best ways to prevent corruption. In addition to the existing publication obligations, we will therefore publicise all awards of the second economic stimulus package - including smaller measures - on the municipal website.

With today's decisions, we will be the first independent city in Saxony to initiate its decisions on the economic stimulus programme.
The fact that it is taking so long before we can actually award contracts is not good. The Free State of Saxony has given itself until the end of May to decide on the measures we have decided on today.
The fact that the Free State of Saxony is initiating such a complicated, bureaucratic procedure that municipal hospitals are not to be supported by the 20 per cent of funds earmarked for this purpose by the federal government and retained by the state is to be criticised. Other federal states have a more trusting approach to municipal self-responsibility. Other federal states know that hospital planning is the responsibility of the federal states and cannot be limited to university and state hospitals.

Based on this experience, it is expressly hoped that the ban on cooperation between the federal government and local authorities will be lifted or significantly relaxed.

This prohibition was included in the Basic Law with Federalism Reform I. Now there is an opportunity to correct this mistake with Federalism Reform II. If the ban on cooperation did not exist, we would decide on 11 March after intensive discussion. And on 12 March, we could start awarding planning contracts and preparing for contract awards. So we will still be awarding planning services from tomorrow. But above all, our employees will have to complete many, many applications.

Dear city councillors,

Thanks to your early and active co-operation, we now have the opportunity to complete the first stage of implementing the Federal Government's Future Investment Act.

In the specialised committees and here in the City Council, you will be regularly involved and informed by the mayors and myself about the achievement of the further stages until completion in 2010.

We have a lot of work ahead of us. I would therefore like to expressly thank the members of the steering group, the mayors and all those who have submitted proposals for their commitment.

Additional investment in education, sport, energy efficiency and municipal infrastructure is - despite all the hurdles - an effective driver in a difficult time.