Last week, Airport Director Paul-Gerhard Weiß had the opportunity to present Offenbach's demands alongside other local authorities and associations at the hearing on the law to establish a regional equalization fund for Frankfurt Airport.
Weiß welcomed the continuation of the regional burden-sharing scheme (regional fund) on behalf of the City of Offenbach, but criticized the low amount. A total of 4.5 million euros per year has been earmarked for the Regional Burden Equalization Fund for 21 municipalities over the next five years.
"The total amount earmarked for the regional fund should be significantly increased in order to provide the affected municipalities with relevant assistance to mitigate the consequences of aircraft noise pollution. The sum of 398,000 euros earmarked for Offenbach can only be regarded as a homeopathic dose and is unacceptable," criticized Weiß. "There are around 240 noise-sensitive facilities in the area of day protection zone 2 (TSZ2), which largely covers the Offenbach city area, many of which need to be retrofitted with passive noise protection. These tasks alone cannot be supported to any significant extent with the planned compensation payment." If the Fraport dividend from the state of Hesse is not sufficient, the state budget should contribute funds. "The state wanted the airport expansion, now it has to take responsibility," demanded Weiß. This obligation to pay the equalization of burdens must also be secured beyond the five years provided for in the draft law.
With regard to the future development of assessment bases, Offenbach's Head of Airport drew attention to the unequal starting position of the municipalities concerned in the distribution and allocation of the fund resources.
When the regional fund was set up in 2012, the City of Offenbach already explained that there are municipalities in day protection zone 1 and the night protection zone that receive funding under the Aircraft Noise Abatement Act as well as additional funding from the regional fund. Weiß therefore suggested: "In future, the basis of assessment should take appropriate account not only of Fraport's profit distributions but also the business taxes of the shareholders and the business tax income of companies on the airport site, and double funding should also be avoided."
In the opinion of the City of Offenbach, those municipalities that are unable to generate any income from airport operations but are burdened with considerable expenses must be given special help through the municipal equalization of burdens.
"The assessment bases for the distribution of funds should therefore be revised by an independent panel of experts," said Weiß.
In the opinion of the City of Offenbach, it is necessary for future funding to flow primarily into TSZ2. Although the owners/operators are obliged to provide appropriate noise protection there, they do not receive any compensation from the airport operator. A rough calculation by the City of Offenbach in 2012 came to the conclusion that an expenditure of more than 120 million euros would be required for the facilities in need of protection in the City of Offenbach alone in order to equip these facilities with the necessary passive noise protection. In the meantime, the costs are likely to be significantly higher.
Many of the noise-sensitive facilities in Offenbach are also operated by independent providers. These also urgently require subsidies. In the opinion of the City of Offenbach, the criteria for awarding subsidies should therefore also provide for the transfer of funds to third parties, as private, church or other operators of facilities in the TSG2 generally do not have sufficient funds to finance passive noise protection in existing buildings. In TGZ1, compensation is paid for outdoor areas. There is no comparable regulation in TGZ2. "This also speaks in favor of reserving the funds for the municipalities as the first recipients that are affected by TGZ2 and also allowing the cities and municipalities to pass on funds to third parties," explained Weiß.