Why does the local district that Oberursel belongs to, the Hochtaunuskreis pay into a culture fund that does not benefit the area? That is the question currently being asked by the „Freie Wähler Hochtaunus“ (FWG, which roughly translates as the association of independent voters).

They claim that each year Hochtaunuskreis pays hundreds of thousands of Euro into a fund called the „Kulturfond RheinMain“ and to other institutions, although no evidence exists that they either benefit the Hochtaunuskreis area or are used by people living there.

As savings have to be made to the district budget, they are calling for the district council (Kreistag) to stop those payments and cancel their membership of the funds and institutions accordingly.

However the parties who hold the majority in the council, the CDU and SPD, have not taken this suggestion on board, leading to the FWG claiming that the tax payer is supporting „prestige objects“. They also point out that there are even mayors in the district who belong to those parties, who support the idea, although this may come as no surprise as at the end of the day it is the local towns who foot the bill through their „Kreisumlage“, a contribution that they have to make to the district budget.

Their motion in the district parliament on 4th March, 2013, was defeated by the other parties in the council.  They did, however, agree to reduce the share that the district has in the fund.