Investment in democracy

C ommunal elections are a cornerstone of our democracy. And they don't do it for free. But what do the elections cost municipalities, cities and counties – and thus the taxpayers?? The question is not easy to answer. On the one hand, the costs for the elections of mayors and district councils, municipal councils, city councils and county councils, which take place in bavaria only every six years, fluctuate from time to time. On the other hand, there is also a lot of working time spent by the municipal administrations that is not recorded and reported separately.

In response to a question from the bayerischer gemeindetag (bavarian association of municipalities), it simply says: "there is no statistical data on the costs of municipal elections." Press spokesman wilfried schober explains that most of the costs cannot be attributed to the election because, for example, "the employees in the municipalities are there anyway and are not recruited specifically for the municipal election. They are involved in the preparations for and the conduct of the election during their regular working hours."

Additional costs are incurred by the municipalities, for example for election documents, staff training and the "pocket money" for the volunteer election workers on election day. Schober recommends asking a municipality about these costs and multiplying them by the number of municipalities in bavaria (2056) to arrive at an approximate value for the expenditures of the bavarian municipalities.

But even that is not so simple. Inquiries at different municipalities in the district of bamberg do not bring a clear result. Concrete figures are provided by the district administration office, which, however, is not involved in the staffing of the polling stations and the payment of votes. In the 2014 district and county council elections, the district therefore paid the 36 municipalities a pro-rata reimbursement of election costs totaling around 110,000 euros. That was 91 cents per person entitled to vote. For the upcoming election, this amount is to be increased to over one euro, according to press spokesman frank fortsch. In total, the district of bamberg had about 124,000 euros in external costs for the 2014 election, i.E. Without the working time of the employees of the district office associated with the election.

A rough order can also name the city of bamberg. 135,000 has been budgeted for both the city council election and the election of the mayor, for a total of 270,000 euros. This includes, among other things, the costs of polling station workers, rent for rooms and cars, newly ordered ballot boxes, screens, ballot papers and postage costs for the ballot, but not the personnel costs in the order and election office. "Of course, we only know afterwards whether these sums are actually correct in the end, says press spokesman Steffen Schutzwohl.

RELATED POSTS

Compromise with workforce: opel to stay in the ruhr region Car production will be discontinued at the end of 2014, but the opel distribution center will be permanently maintained against the original plan with a…

What 2020 will bring to the bamberg district The year 2020 is upon us. So once again it’s high time to stir the coffee grounds, polish the crystal ball, shuffle the tarot cards and throw the I-ging…

The district council hopes for babies born in habfurt Finally a county budget to participate in! Every citizen in the habberge district is urged to do his or her part to improve the financial situation….

The city of eltmann is losing revenue Trade tax is a cause for concern: last year it was 600,000 euros lower than calculated, and in the first quarter of 2013 the city received a demand for…