At the invitation of the town council, Minister President Alexander Schweitzer was a guest at Idar-Oberstein Town Hall today. During a discussion between him, Lord Mayor Frank Frühauf and Mayor Friedrich Marx, the main focus was on the future development of the city of Idar-Oberstein and the site of the former Strasbourg barracks.
In keeping with the topic of discussion, Minister President Schweitzer had brought along the funding decision for the Rhineland-Palatinate Regional Future Program and handed it over to the city council in the presence of representatives from the city council factions. "With today's notification, the city of Idar-Oberstein is receiving one of the highest individual allocations from the Regional Future Program - a total of over four million euros. With the funds from the state program, the city of Idar-Oberstein is setting a clear focus for itself for the benefit of children, young people and families, among other things by renovating playgrounds at daycare centers, schools and in the city area," emphasized Minister President Alexander Schweitzer. He particularly highlighted the approved photovoltaic system at Idar elementary school. This shows how flexibly and practically the program can be used - even if a measure was not initially on the positive list. This example makes it clear that local authorities have a great deal of leeway to implement local measures that they consider sensible and forward-looking. "Idar-Oberstein is making exemplary use of this opportunity and is thus building on the successful implementation of the KIPKI funds, which have already been invested in climate protection, education and financial relief in a targeted and sustainable manner. At the same time, today's funding shows that the state is doing everything in its power - from debt relief programmes to KIPKI and the Regional Future Programme - to stabilize and strengthen municipalities in the long term. In this way, we are making a joint contribution to securing the future viability of our cities and municipalities in the state," said Minister President Alexander Schweitzer.
Lord Mayor Frank Frühauf thanked the Minister President for the funding from the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. "Although we had tough and sometimes controversial discussions in the city council about the use of the funding, we ultimately decided on the list of measures together," explained the mayor. This shows that we want to do something together for the development of the city, "and this is also recognized by the state." In this context, Minister President Schweitzer praised the good cooperation between the administration, city council and city board in the successful application for the future program. Mayor Friedrich Marx added that all cities in the state had similar problems: "There is never enough money." However, the Idar-Oberstein town council has been in good contact with the state for many years and has received a great deal of support.
