By Napoleon, the alderman Van Tiel now has a bill of 3 million euros

Renovating the church tower, says Remco Dijkstra, “You don’t have that much choice in that. You’re tied to that. ” From the Tiel town hall, the Alderman for Finance has a view of the tower. Fences are provisionally around it, as a warning that stones can fall down.

The large or Sint Maartenskerk is in the heart of Tiel, near the Waal. “The place where the city was created.” Once it was the largest church in Gelderland, the tower is still the highest in the Betuwe with 45 meters. And because Napoleon stipulated in 1798 that all church towers should be used to signal and for country measurements, like more than half of the church towers in the Netherlands – he is in the hands of the civil congregation and not, like the church buildings, of the religious congregation . The municipality is therefore running out for maintenance.

Three million euros will cost renovation. Three million in a municipality that expects to have seven million less income in 2026 because the government briefly on financing. “We look at what we can skimp on,” says Dijkstra. “You can’t say” I’m not doing anything. ” Then he collapses. Or the renovation becomes even more expensive due to delay. “

Everyone lacks money while the costs rise due to inflation, sustainability and staff shortages

In all 342 municipalities, Finance aldermen try to get the multi -year budgets in a conclusive way, as is required by law. Research from NRC It appears that most municipalities succeed before 2025, but that only forty will get everything around for the next four years. In all other municipalities, ‘Ravine year’ 2026 prints the income. Then the government briefly briefly 2.3 billion on the municipal fund, accounting for an average of 70 percent of the income of a municipality.

Because municipalities have to perform many legal tasks, for example paying benefits and offering youth care, there is little that can really be cut. They often opt for facilities such as the swimming pool or the library. Or municipalities postpone the maintenance of roads, (school) buildings or greenery.

Money spared

In Tiel money was saved when the church tower was ready for maintenance in 2019: 900,000 euros. The State granted a monument subsidy of 223,596 euros, and the Protestant Knowledge German Order, which took part in the Grote or Sint Maartenskerk in the sixteenth century, donated 20,000 euros.

Extensive inspection was delayed because a peregrine falcon was breeding in the tower. But after the investigation it turned out that the tower was much worse than expected. The tuff, with which many church towers with war damage were held after the Second World War, turns out to be porous and is “at the end of his lifespan,” concluded the National Service for Cultural Heritage.

Sales or demolition are not an option, the Tiel College wrote to the city council: when selling, the three million euros for restoration will be on top of the price. Moreover, you should not just demolish a national monument.

In addition, church towers are ‘visible objects’, they are in the middle of the city or the village, are often the place where a community started. “The religious reason they were built is disappearing against the social interest,” says Joost Schelling of the Association of Church Stewards. He often sees that church towers are hunting municipalities on costs, even when it comes to just maintenance.

The association has seen “two decades” that budgets do not grow. “If you do not inspect the tower, it will go well as long as it goes well. But weather and wind have influence. You have to carry out regular maintenance. “

“Everyone lacks money while the costs rise due to inflation, sustainability and staff shortages,” says Schelling. “Church boards see the finances decreasing by fewer churchgoers, but the monumental building does not become smaller. Government subsidies for cultural heritage have been reduced, or actually the personal contribution has been increased. And municipalities see the canyon year looming. “

Structural deficits

VVD member Remco Dijkstra, former MP and since 2022 Alderman for Finance in Tiel, says that he loves puzzling. According to the province of Gelderland, the budget of the municipality is’ just closing ‘, but after that there are’ large structural deficits’ that ‘mainly [worden] caused by a significant reduction in the municipal fund. “

“We had an apple for the thirst. We have deployed our reserves for 2025, but you can only use 10 percent of them for structural costs, “says the alderman. He is worried. “If things go less, you have to put on the belt. But you don’t want to make choices that affect the facilities: we have a vulnerable population here. ”

Municipalities are the victims. But the same people live here as those where the cabinet says they stand up for

And “such a strange church tower” comes in between. Tiel can write off the costs and therefore divide over several years, but must ‘find’ 2.1 million euros somewhere. Dijkstra says that Tiel will look at the ‘co -consuming tasks’ to possibly cut back. These are the tasks that the government has invested in municipalities, and there are more and more according to the alderman. He mentions as an example the Educational Housing Planning Approach Act, which will take effect in six months and arranges that municipalities with school boards must work together in building schools. The maintenance of the buildings was already a municipal task.

“Only for Tiel this will cost 160 million in the coming years. Most schools have been written off or must be replaced or maintained within fifteen years now. ” They must also meet legal regulations on energy neutrality and air ventilation, which does not apply to older schools. The government has cleared money for an official who draws up the maintenance plan, “but not for construction costs” that come from such a plan.

Dijkstra says: “Municipalities are the victims. But the same people live here as those where the cabinet says they stand up for. ” And oh yes, the heat pumps of the swimming pool have also dropped out.

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