Erfurt, Jena, Gera and Weimar criticize planned distribution formula for pool financing

The mayors of the cities of Jena, Erfurt, Gera and Weimar have jointly issued an open letter and a statement clearly opposing the current amendment proposed by the governing parliamentary groups in the Thuringian state parliament regarding the funding of municipal indoor swimming pools. The motion proposes to differentiate support for swimming pools according to the number of inhabitants and to exclude municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants.

In the view of the four cities, this system leads to massive inequality in treatment and does not do justice to the actual costs of operating indoor swimming pools. Rising energy prices, high fixed costs and the central importance of swimming pools for school swimming and public services affect all municipalities regardless of their size.

The Lord Mayor of the City of Jena, Dr. Thomas Nitzsche, explains:

"Indoor swimming pools are not a voluntary service. They are central educational and health infrastructure. School swimming is a state mandate that we municipalities reliably fulfill. The costs incurred for this affect all towns and cities equally. A distribution of funds based on population figures misses the point."

The Lord Mayor of the City of Erfurt, Andreas Horn, emphasizes the financial dimension:

"Even large cities bear enormous burdens in pool operations. Energy, technology, personnel and maintenance cause high running costs. These expenses tie up considerable funds from municipal services of general interest. Anyone who believes that larger cities can easily compensate for this is misjudging the situation of our budgets."

The Mayor of Gera, Kurt Dannenberg, refers to the regional responsibility:

"Our pools are not only used by people from our own city. They are meeting points for schools, clubs and families from the entire surrounding area. This regional supply function is completely ignored in the current amendment."

The Lord Mayor of Weimar, Peter Kleine, warns of the consequences of the planned regulation:

"The proposed distribution formula creates new injustices instead of stabilizing the Thuringian pool landscape. If cities with high capacity utilization and central importance are structurally disadvantaged, this will jeopardize the operation of these facilities in the long term."

The four mayors make it clear that the financing of indoor swimming pools accounts for a significant proportion of municipal services of general interest and is in direct competition with other mandatory tasks such as transport, education and social infrastructure. A funding logic that is primarily based on population figures does not do justice to the real cost structures and the importance of swimming pools, particularly for school swimming, and is in no way acceptable.

From the cities' point of view, it is therefore essential to adjust the content of this amendment in good time before the plenary session and to align the funding with the actual costs, use and regional importance of the indoor swimming pools.