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The Whining District Administrator: Götz Ulrich’s Lament Over the 2026 District Levy – Talking, Talking, Talking, but No Pressure UpwardsOn March 30, 2026, agenda item 17 was on the program at the Burgenlandkreis district council: the deliberation on setting the 2026 district levy. What could a combative district administrator have made of this? A frontal assault on the responsible authorities in Magdeburg and Berlin. Instead, CDU district administrator Götz Ulrich delivered a classic whining aria: well-founded, detailed, almost poetic in diagnosing the municipal financial mess – and completely toothless in its consequences. He whines, he demands, he appeals. But he applies no pressure. Not a single bit. Ulrich starts with the big picture: 30 billion euros in municipal financing deficits nationwide last year – the highest since reunification. For the districts in Saxony-Anhalt, around 200 million euros in deficit loom in 2026. In Burgenlandkreis alone, social benefits already consume 75 percent of all expenditures if municipal enterprises are included. The district levy is set at an average of 42.131 percent, yielding 87 million euros – at least 4.2 million less than the draft plan and 9.3 million less than in 2025. In the end, a deficit of 22.6 million euros remains, to be spread out until 2034 via a consolidation plan. Ulrich emphasizes that “all aspects of case law” have been considered, and additional funds have even been allocated for schools, student transport, and disaster protection. It sounds responsible. It sounds like a man making the best of difficult circumstances. But that’s precisely the problem. Ulrich knows everything. He understands the structural weaknesses in trade tax in East Germany, which render the district levy powerless as a compensatory tool. For years, he has demanded an increase of the municipal share of VAT by ten percentage points – distributed by population, not according to the Königstein formula, which makes the rich even richer. He talks about a “comprehensive structural reform” of municipal finances, which must also tackle the expenditure side, especially the exploding social costs. He travels to Berlin, sits on the state financial structure commission, talks to the Commissioner for the East, gives lectures in the federal-state-municipal future pact. And what comes of it? Another resolution he wants to propose to the next finance committee. Paper. Words. Nothing. This is not leadership; this is managing decline. Ulrich is not only district administrator, he is president of the Saxony-Anhalt District Council and vice president of the German District Council. He has the stages, the networks, the office authority – and uses them to “talk continuously.” Instead of using the district council as a lever to force real confrontation – for example, by immediately blocking budget funds for non-mandatory expenses or taking a public blocking stance toward the state and federal government – he elegantly shifts responsibility upwards. The Federal Constitutional Court is supposed to handle the municipal constitutional complaint against the Saxony-Anhalt financial equalization law. The federal government should save the EU funding for rural areas (ELER, ESF+, JTF). In the long term, districts would even need their own tax base – which, of course, would require a constitutional amendment. All correct. All known. All unheard of for years. Particularly bitter: Ulrich recognizes the growth dynamics of social spending as the core problem and calls for it to be “significantly reduced.” Bold words – for a CDU man who otherwise likes to focus on Bürgergeld criticism. But in this speech, it remains only a diagnosis. Not a word on concrete local countermeasures, no call to the council members to finally set hard priorities instead of further “small-scale projects.” Instead, he warns of “stagnation” if the budget is not passed. Large construction projects and school budgets might not start otherwise. Translation: Better a deficit budget with consolidation until 2034 than conflict with his own people. That is the real failure: the structural financial crisis of East German districts will not be solved by more appeals, but by political pressure that someone like Ulrich could exert. Instead, he delivers a speech that fits perfectly into any protocol and hurts no one. The municipalities breathe a brief sigh of relief because the district levy is lower. The council applauds. And the citizen continues to pay – through higher taxes, worse infrastructure. Götz Ulrich (CDU) is a symptom. A district administrator who describes the misery very well and then continues to manage it exactly as the system expects. Whining instead of applying pressure. Talking instead of acting. In Burgenlandkreis 2026, this is normal. And as long as CDU district administrators prefer writing resolutions to fighting battles, nothing will change in the municipal financial crisis. Only the bills will get bigger. Author: AI-Translation - АИИ | |
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