Mayor Rudolf Jacob invited the municipal council, together with the works committee, to the last meeting of the calendar year on November 27, 2025 at the town hall.
First on the agenda was the discussion and resolution on the annual financial statements of the municipal utilities for 2024. The mayor welcomed Mr. Nestler, auditor from the auditing firm Dr. Burret, who presented the corresponding annual financial statements.
The annual financial statements for 2024 for the sewer plant were unanimously approved with an annual loss of € 289,479.66. The annual loss will be carried forward to new account.
This was followed by the 2024 annual result of the waterworks, which was unanimously approved with an annual loss of € 881,811.51.
The annual financial statements for the swimming pool for 2024 were also unanimously approved, with a loss of € 813,207.05 affecting expenditure. This loss affecting expenditure will be borne by the municipality of Winnweiler as the facility operator from general budget funds. In addition, a non-expendable loss of € 177,829.03 was determined.
This was followed by a discussion and resolution on the business plan for the sewer works for 2026. Mayor Rudolf Jacob explained that, after the user fee had remained unchanged since 2016, the annual results for the previous year meant that an increase in fees was unavoidable. The administration proposes that this increase be made in 2 stages. The wastewater usage fee is to be increased from €1.60 to €1.80/cbm for 2025. From 01.01.2026, a further increase to € 2.10 is to be implemented. The recurring wastewater contribution is to be increased from 7 cents to 9 cents in 2025 and to 11 cents from 2026. The recurring contribution for rainwater is to be increased from 18 cents to 20 cents in the first stage and to 22 cents in 2026. The rainwater user fee is to be increased from 44 cents to 48 cents/sqm. There will only be a one-off increase in this area. This will lead to corresponding additional income, so that the 2026 business plan, based on the newly set fees and contributions, calculates a surplus of € 19,325.00. The mayor also pointed out that the area-related contributions have remained unchanged since 2000.
The Works Committee and the Association Council unanimously endorsed the administration's recommendation.
This was followed by the business plan for the waterworks for 2026, which also requires a two-stage increase in fees and contributions. Following a corresponding forecast calculation, the administration has proposed the following fee adjustment:
The basic fee per water meter will be €120.00 (plus €24.00) from 2025. From 2026, the basic fee will be €132.00.
The user fee will be increased from 1.74/sqm to 1.95/sqm from 2025 and to 2.21/sqm from 2026. This will result in a calculated annual profit of € 28,645.00 in the 2026 business plan. Mayor Jacob pointed out that despite the planned increases, the fees and contributions of Verbandsgemeindewerke Winnweiler continue to be among the cheapest in the district. The additional monthly charge in 2025 for a typical one-person household with a water consumption of 35 cbm would be €5.48. For a sample four-person household with a water consumption of 140 cbm, the additional monthly charge in 2025 would be €9.01. For the corresponding sample households for one person, the additional monthly charge after the increase in 2026 would be €9.81 and €18.13 for a four-person household.
A corresponding information sheet detailing the relevant information will be sent to each customer with the 2025 fee notices, which will be sent out at the beginning of 2026.
Both the municipal council and the works committee unanimously approved the procedure proposed by the administration and the 2026 business plan for the waterworks.
The business plan for the outdoor pool for 2026 provides for unchanged user fees for the outdoor pool. The business plan closes with a non-expenditure-related annual loss of € 166,608.00. The annual loss affecting expenditure in the 2026 business plan amounts to € 817,000.00.
After a brief discussion, the members of the Works Committee and the Association Council also unanimously approved the submitted business plan for the outdoor pool for 2026.
This was followed by the 2023 annual financial statements. Council member Matthias Luft, who is Chairman of the Audit Committee, took the chair for this agenda item. He explained that the Audit Committee had dealt intensively with the 2023 annual financial statements on 24.11.2025. The audit had not led to any objections. The Audit Committee recommended that the Association Municipal Council approve the 2023 annual result with a net profit of € 671,690.88. Equity amounted to € 28,395,288.35 as at the balance sheet date of 31.12.2023. The Audit Committee also recommended that the actions of the mayor and the deputies, insofar as they were active, be approved for the 2023 financial year. The municipal council unanimously followed the recommendations of the Audit Committee.
This was followed by the announcement of additional costs for the implementation of the farm daycare center at Hofgut Neumühle. The mayor informed the association council that additional costs totaling € 161,613.30 had been incurred due to various circumstances. On the one hand, the additional costs resulted from the fact that the original costs did not include the estimates for the construction of the outdoor play area, which amounted to around €20,000.00. The additional costs also resulted from the fact that the area provided by Neumühle was extended by the ground floor of the building provided for the farm daycare center during the course of the construction project. As the costs for the construction work on the building (doors, windows, thermal insulation composite system, roof, scaffolding) were calculated on the basis of an area key, the relevant share of the association municipality had increased in line with the additional area. With the increased construction costs, the association municipality's share of the planning costs had also increased proportionately. After a brief discussion, the council took note of the additional costs with approval and unanimously decided to cover the additional expenditure with savings in other investment projects or with unplanned additional income from the RZN funding program.
Without discussion, the municipal council unanimously adopted a new statute on the reimbursement of costs and the charging of fees for assistance and services provided by the fire department of the municipality of Winnweiler. The mayor informed the council that this had become necessary as the legal basis for this, the State Fire and Civil Protection Act, had been amended in the course of the year. For this reason, corresponding adjustments had to be made to the cost and fee statutes of the municipal authorities.
The mayor then gave the obligatory end-of-year reports on contracts concluded between the administration and employees or council members. He informed the meeting that no such contracts had been concluded in 2025. The mayor also provided information on residents' meetings that had taken place. Finally, donations to the association municipality were announced, to the acceptance of which the association municipality council had no objections.
At the end of the meeting, Mayor Jacob thanked all council members for their good and trusting cooperation in the year that was drawing to a close and wished all elected representatives a Merry Christmas and all the best for 2026.