Mayor (Hessen)

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A mayor is the head of a municipality or city . This article describes the special features of the state of Hesse . The legal basis is the Hessian Municipal Code (HGO).

Official title

According to Section 45 (1) HGO, in communities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, the mayor has the title of mayor, and the first alderman has the title of mayor. These official titles continue to apply as long as the number of inhabitants does not fall below 45,000. Even if the number of inhabitants falls below this, the Lord Mayor and Mayor continue to hold their official titles for the duration of their term of office , in the event of their re-election for the duration of further terms of office; A re-election is equivalent to a renewed appointment to the same office immediately after the end of the term of office.

The following explanations relate to the head of the municipality, not to councilors, regardless of the official title.

General

In Hesse, the municipalities are organized according to the so-called magistrate constitution . The mayor, who was directly elected in accordance with Section 39 (1a) of the HGO, has a relatively weak position vis-à-vis the municipal council . With the introduction of direct elections in 1992, the position compared to the position of the mayor in the southern German council constitution remained weak, since essential tasks according to § 50 HGO and responsibilities according to § 51 HGO remained with the municipal council. In Sections 39 to 48 of the HGO, the regulations on the mayor, in particular the election and the term of office, are codified.

Mayor and community council

The office of full-time mayor is classified
at an order of magnitude in grade
up to 2,000 inhabitants A 15
up to 10,000 inhabitants A 16
up to 15,000 inhabitants B 2
up to 20,000 inhabitants B 3
up to 30,000 inhabitants B 4
up to 50,000 inhabitants B 5
up to 75,000 inhabitants B 6
up to 100,000 inhabitants B 7
up to 175,000 inhabitants B 8
up to 250,000 inhabitants B 9
up to 500,000 inhabitants B 10
over 500,000 inhabitants B 11

The mayor is the chairman of the municipal council (in cities: the magistrate) and the head of the municipal administration . He represents the community externally (§ 71 HGO). However, the main decisions are made by the community board as a collective body. § 66 HGO names the following essential tasks of the municipality board:

  1. execute the laws and ordinances as well as the instructions of the supervisory authority issued within the framework of the law ,
  2. to prepare and implement the resolutions of the municipal council,
  3. to deal with the community affairs that are incumbent on him under this law and those assigned to him by the community council in general or in individual cases,
  4. to manage the public institutions and economic operations of the municipality and the other municipal assets,
  5. to distribute the municipal taxes according to the laws and according to the resolutions of the municipal council to the obliged entities and to effect their collection as well as to collect the income of the municipality,
  6. draw up the budget and the investment program, monitor the cash and accounting system,
  7. to represent the community , to conduct correspondence and to execute the community deeds.

The mayor is basically a full-time civil servant . In municipalities with no more than 5,000 inhabitants, the main statute can stipulate that the position of mayor is to be administered on a voluntary basis; the change must have been decided with a majority of at least 2/3 of the legal number of community representatives (§ 44 HGO). On January 1, 2017, the municipality of Bromskirchen became the first Hessian municipality to make use of this special regulation for small municipalities.

The salary of the full-time mayor is based on the Hessian municipal salary regulation (§ 2 HKomBesV) on the size of the community. The office of the full-time first councilor is assigned two salary groups, the offices of the other full-time councilors are classified three grades lower than the office of the full-time mayor. Honorary mayors are entitled to allowance for expenses and honorary pay .

The mayor heads the municipal administration (Section 70 (2) HGO). It determines the organization of the municipal administration and determines the division of responsibilities between the councilors (Section 70 (1) HGO).

The mayor is the superior, superior in service and the highest service authority of the community employees (Section 73 (2) HGO).

choice

Election and term of office

Mayor of Hesse

The mayor is elected by the citizens in a general, direct, free, equal and secret ballot (§ 39 HGO). The election is to be carried out according to the principles of majority voting . Whoever received more than half of the valid votes is elected.

If no candidate receives more than half of the valid votes, a runoff election will take place at the earliest on the second and at the latest on the fourth Sunday after the election , to which the two applicants who received the most votes in the first election are allowed. Again, more than half of the valid votes are required for an election. In the event of a tie , the lot decides on the election of the mayor or admission to the runoff election. However, if only two applicants took part in the election and achieved the same number of votes, this case will not be decided by drawing lots , but by a run-off vote in accordance with Section 39 (1b) of the HGO.

Germans within the meaning of Article 116 of the Basic Law and Union citizens who live in the Federal Republic of Germany before the application is approved are eligible for election as mayor . Applicants must have reached the age of 18 on election day . It is not possible to elect who is excluded from the right to vote (§ 31 HGO).

The mayor is introduced to his office at the latest six months after his election by the chairman of the municipal council in a public meeting (§ 46 HGO). The term of office is six years.

After leaving the office, the mayor receives an immediately due, lifelong pension of 35% of his official salary after just one term of office (Section 211 of the Hessian Civil Servants Act). This is independent of age and employability. The final amount depends on the number of terms of office.

Election preparation, time of election

The Hessian Local Election Act (KWG) is decisive for direct elections (Section 42 HGO). Section 5 KWG determines the formation of an election officer and an election committee.

The mayor is to be elected no earlier than six and no later than three months before the position becomes vacant. If the position becomes vacant for unforeseeable reasons, elections must be made after four months at the latest. In order to merge election dates, the election can be held together with another election in accordance with Section 42 KWG, even if the deadlines mentioned are deviated by a maximum of 3 months.

Deselection

The voting out of a mayor is regulated in Section 76 (4) HGO. This requires a decision with a 2/3 majority of the municipal council and then a vote by the citizens according to the rules for a referendum, in which a majority of the valid votes are in favor of the vote and this majority makes up at least 30% of the eligible voters.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mayor waives his salary , Gießener Anzeiger dated February 9, 2016.
  2. ↑ § 39 HGO.
  3. ^ Provision of municipal electoral officials , presentation by the Municipal Political Association (CDU), accessed on August 10, 2013; PDF (74 kB).
  4. ↑ § 54 - § 57 KWG - referendum.
  5. ↑ Section 76 (4) HGO - deselection.