Cities press for district savings
The dispute centers on the Kreisumlage, a levy that cities and municipalities pay to fund the district's responsibilities. The mayors have sent an open letter asking the administration in Siegburg to rework its budget and make its own savings rather than impose further costs on municipalities, Radio Bonn/Rhein-Sieg reported.
Leitterstorf told the broadcaster that slashing social services, closing Sankt Augustin's outdoor swimming pool and music school, and eliminating its subsidy for all-day primary school care would save only €3 million to €4 million annually. He stressed that he strictly opposed all those measures. Even that package, he said, would fall far short of covering an additional €13 million each year.
The opposition predates the presentation of the draft budget. On September 17, 2026, all 19 mayors jointly withheld their consent to the district's budget framework in the consultation process known as Benehmen. They submitted seven demands to the district administrator and administration, including a review of district tasks, dropping 12 planned additional positions, using district equity and prioritizing projects. They also called for pressure on the Landschaftsverband Rheinland, or LVR, to reduce its spending.
How the levy would rise
The draft puts the general district levy at €365.2 million in 2026, with a rate of 32.30%. It would increase to €387.7 million at 33.95% in 2027, then €438.2 million at 37.24% in 2028. The proposed figures for 2029 are €476.2 million and 39.19%, rising to €495.3 million and 39.49% in 2030. That schedule accounts for the roughly €130 million increase in annual payments by 2030.
A major contributor is the separate levy the district pays to the LVR. District budget figures put that payment at €206.2 million in 2026 and €272.6 million in 2030. The stated increase of €66.3 million accounts for roughly half of the planned rise in the levy charged to municipalities.
The mayors estimate that the additional €130 million amounts to more than €200 per resident each year. They also calculate that each percentage point of the district levy would cost municipalities about €11.8 million in 2028.
Troisdorf's projected additional payments illustrate the progression: €1.73 million in 2027, €7.92 million in 2028, €12.08 million in 2029 and €13.04 million in 2030, according to the district's figures. The city's treasurer has warned that drastic tax-rate increases and further budget consolidation under a Haushaltssicherungskonzept, a budget recovery plan, would become unavoidable by 2028 at the latest.
Spending plans and dwindling reserves
The district administration presented its 2027 draft budget to the district council, the Kreistag, on October 15, 2026. Planned spending totals about €1,175 million. Transfer expenditures account for roughly €720 million, or more than 60% of the total, mainly for social and youth welfare and including the payment to the LVR.
The administration says the draft already contains about €21 million in consolidation measures. It also provides for the full use of the district's roughly €41 million equalization reserve, known as the Ausgleichsrücklage, to cover a projected deficit of about €40.8 million.
The draft's reserve projections leave about €570,670 at the end of 2027 and nothing at the end of 2028, after which a €15.1 million accounting loss would be carried forward. District equity is forecast to decline from €127.3 million at the end of 2025 to €51.6 million in 2030, a drop of about 59%.
District leader calls for wider reforms
District Administrator Sebastian Schuster warned in the administration's October 15 press release that financial pressures threaten public confidence in the functioning of government. He said trust in the state would be lost if financial hardship forced higher charges such as property taxes while swimming pools closed and roads, schools and sports facilities could no longer be maintained.
Schuster urged municipalities to press federal and state decision-makers more visibly for reforms.
Budget decision scheduled for December
The draft will go through committee consultations before the district council's scheduled adoption of the 2027 budget on December 14, 2026. The youth welfare committee is due to meet on November 19, followed by the finance committee on December 8, when cities and municipalities will have a public hearing. The district executive committee, the Kreisausschuss, is scheduled to consider the budget on December 10.
