The fees are to be increased - on average by 1.05 percentage points for waste, 12.89 percentage points for wastewater and around 4.5 percentage points for street cleaning. In principle, the cost recovery principle applies to the fee rates: the fee revenue should generally cover the costs, but may not exceed them.
Waste disposal
For 2025, a fee requirement of around 48 million euros is calculated, which is only just under 2% or around 907,000 euros higher than in the previous year. As the assessment basis has also increased slightly (i.e. the number and size of waste containers issued, over which the costs are distributed), waste disposal fees can be kept relatively stable.
For a family of four with a 120 liter residual waste garbage can and fortnightly emptying, the annual fee will rise from 261.08 euros to 263.83 euros. This corresponds to an increase of 1.05 percentage points.
Sewage disposal
Update from November 13, 2024: Wastewater charges were not discussed at the meeting on November 12. The item will be on the agenda again at the meeting on December 12.
At 91.7 million euros, the chargeable costs for wastewater fees in 2025 are forecast to be 2.7 million euros higher than in 2024. In addition, the provisional operating statement for 2023 results in a total shortfall of 11.5 million euros. This shortfall also arose because the advance wastewater charges, which were initially assessed at higher rates, had to be settled retrospectively at lower rates following a decision by the NRW Higher Administrative Court in May 2022.
The administration proposes to include a share of around one third of this shortfall, i.e. 3.9 million euros, in the calculation of the fees for 2025 and to distribute the remaining 7.6 million euros over the coming years.
After deducting the city's share of the costs for road drainage of just under 11.5 million euros, this results in a total fee requirement of 83.7 million euros, an increase of around six million euros compared to the 2024 calculation. The wastewater charges must therefore be increased from 2.87 to 3.24 euros per cubic meter. This represents an increase of 12.89 percent compared to 2024. In the case of the rainwater fee, the fee rate will increase from 1.43 euros per square meter of the built-up and paved area connected to the sewer system to 1.48 euros per square meter. This corresponds to a percentage increase of 3.5 percent.
For a family of four with a fresh water consumption of 150 cubic meters and a house plot with a built-up and paved area of 120 square meters, the wastewater charges will rise from the current 602.10 to 663.60 euros in 2025. This corresponds to an overall percentage increase of 10.21 percentage points.
Street cleaning
The fee requirement - less the city's share - will increase by around 480,000 euros from 9.41 million euros to 9.89 million euros in 2025. The increases are mainly due to ongoing personnel and material costs.
For an owner of a detached house with a 15-metre frontage, residential street, weekly cleaning, the annual fee will increase by 5.10 euros from 110.10 euros to 115.20 euros (around 4.4 percentage points).