With a special kind of booster, another financial injection in the third Corona year, the city of Mainz wants to ensure that trade and gastronomy, but also the cultural industry and club scene, and last but not least clubs and families, come through the next few months of the pandemic stronger.

Specifically, if the city council approves the project on April 6, more than one million euros will be made available as extrabudgetary funds.

Markus Schug

Correspondent Rhein-Main-Süd.

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In addition, a good EUR 500,000 in additional state funding is already available to attract more customers and guests to the city center under the heading "City Center Impulses".

The municipal aid package "#mainzhilftsofort", which already existed in a similar form in 2020 and 2021, should strengthen cohesion in the opinion of Mayor Michael Ebling (SPD) - and help, with all corona-related caution, such as wearing a mask, the " to bring positive and colorful life back to our city".

Business has not gone well for retailers and innkeepers in the past two years.

For them, the reduction in trade tax by around a third, which has been in force since January 1st - namely from the previous 440 to only 310 tax points in the future - will bring a noticeable relief.

This step was made possible because, thanks to the city-based vaccine manufacturer Biontech, Mainz can count on trade tax revenues totaling more than 1.5 billion euros for this year and last.

This is a height that the town hall of the hitherto clammy municipality would hardly have thought possible.

"We have now looked at what we can give back and pass on," said the head of finance, Mayor Günter Beck (Die Grünen), on Tuesday at the presentation of the "third booster for our city" suggested by the city council.

It's about existence

The providers of swimming courses, for example, are to benefit from the city’s offer of help, some of which have been canceled for months when the pools are closed.

In any case, they want to strengthen club life, said Beck, whose plan provides up to 400,000 euros for this alone.

In the districts in particular, a number of sports clubs whose gyms had to remain closed lost members.

Because the carnival events had to be canceled twice in a row, which are extremely important for financing the club work, which is mostly carried out by volunteers, some of them are now really about their existence.

There should also be additional money, namely 10,000 euros each, for fire brigade associations and aid organizations;

but also for clubs that, for example, took care of the victims of domestic violence, which, according to Beck, was increasingly being complained about in the pandemic;

the same applies to small initiatives that offer help with homework, for example.

The Mainz schools are to receive money for additional ventilation systems and additional tablets for students, among other things.

As usual, the catering industry wants to be given more space for outdoor use, said Ebling, and no extra fee should be charged for it.

With around 100,000 euros, the badly battered cultural sector will be given a helping hand, which should also have a stronger presence in the city again in the coming months.

In addition, there are plans to celebrate the Mainz folk festivals again: starting with the "Rhine Spring" fair, which is planned for April 9th, through the Rhineland-Palatinate Day to St. John's Night in June.