Styrian municipal structural reform
The Styrian municipal structural reform is a regional reform in the Austrian state of Styria . It has been in effect since January 1, 2015 and is thus complete. Their basis is the Styrian Municipal Structural Reform Act (StGsrG) . This law was passed on December 17, 2013 by the Styrian state parliament and announced on April 2, 2014.
The reform reduced the number of municipalities in Styria from 542 by 255 to 287 municipalities (including Graz). On January 1, 2013, the former municipalities of Buch-Geiseldorf and Sankt Magdalena am Lemberg were merged to form the new municipality of Buch-St. Magdalena as well as the incorporation of the former communities Hafning bei Trofaiach and Gai into the community Trofaiach , whereby the number of communities had already been reduced to 539 before the actual reform came into force.
A total of 385 municipalities were affected by the reform (through the addition of other municipalities or parts of the municipality, territorial changes or dissolution), 157 municipalities remained unchanged.
An originally planned incorporation of the surrounding communities of the provincial capital Graz into this did not take place.
Starting position
The aim of the municipal structural reform was stated to be the desire to bring the Styrian municipalities permanently in a position to perform their tasks properly, efficiently and with high quality. The basics of the content were presented in the mission statement under the title “Stronger Communities - Greater Opportunities”.
This was proven by the fact that Styria had the most municipalities in Austria with 542 municipalities in relation to the population. 200 of them had fewer than 1,000 inhabitants, which means that 32% of all Austrian municipalities in this category were in Styria before the reform, but only 3.6% afterwards. In 302 of 542 municipalities, population declines are to be expected in the next few years, which particularly affects small municipalities. 77 municipalities with less than 500 inhabitants and thus 41% of all Austrian municipalities in this category were located in Styria, 63 (81.8%) of which have shown population decreases since the last census.
The number of leaving communities (see section on financial issues below ) that were no longer able to perform their duties on their own has increased steadily since 2006. In Article 118, however, the Austrian Federal Constitution assigns the municipalities important everyday tasks such as the security and event police, management of traffic areas, road police, health police, in particular also in the field of aid and rescue services as well as the corpse and funeral services, the moral police, Construction police, fire police or spatial planning for the respective municipality. The municipalities are responsible for these tasks, free of instructions and excluding legal remedies to administrative bodies outside the municipality, and also to finance them. If this is not possible, the municipality is dependent on financial subsidies from general tax funds.
In the years before 2010, attempts were unsuccessful to alleviate this situation by voluntarily merging several municipalities into small regions . Although many communities had actually done this, the desired effects of this measure fell far short of expectations. The experiences with the small regions were one of the bases for the work on the municipal structural reform.
Another argument in favor of the reform was that it was becoming increasingly difficult for the municipalities to find applicants for political positions (municipal council, mayor's office). Municipal associations offer an opportunity to make offices more attractive, as larger municipalities offer more room for maneuver and higher performance and make it possible to exercise the mayor's office as a full-time office and not just on the side. Political offices can be filled more easily if one can draw from a larger group of people.
Larger municipalities also have the option of using their own staff for technical questions more easily (or rewarding external specialists) than smaller municipalities with a low budget. Apart from the time burden, the shortage of applicants is also related to the fact that mayors can be exposed to the risk of criminal charges, even if they do not act actively, but e.g. B. Refrain from taking official steps (notification of an unapproved building) (over a long period of time). Even if such allegations or even personal attacks turn out to be unjustified in retrospect, the personal burden can be a disadvantage that does not promote the application for an office. Personal attacks on mayors cited, for example, include a gunshot attack (2003, Fohnsdorf ), strychnine-poisoned praline (2008, Spitz an der Donau ), an acid attack (2008, Weißkirchen an der Traun ), sending dead animals (2010, Ansfelden ; 2011, Eidenberg ), Death threats and other attacks. This situation can be better met with the resources of a larger community.
procedure
The reform took place in several phases. In the "proposal phase" from October 2011 to January 31, 2012, the municipalities and their citizens were already involved to present their points of view. In the “negotiation phase” until September 2012, the ideas of the state and the municipalities were then discussed mainly at the district level. In the “decision-making phase”, the concrete content of the reform should be worked out by January 2013. In this phase, by January 31, 2013, decisions in principle had been made by 207 municipalities to voluntarily unite with one or more neighboring municipalities - after clarifying open questions. In the subsequent "implementation phase", technical and organizational issues were dealt with and the conversion work began.
The procedure, especially if voluntary mergers were intended, is summarized in a manual. Preparatory work began in the years after 2009. Criteria for examining whether merging municipalities would make sense were as follows:
- Central facilities: catchment areas of schools, parish offices, shops.
- Community structure: In this context, already existing functional interdependencies between the communities, connections in the settlement structure and the infrastructure (e.g. joint disposal companies) were considered.
- Already existing cooperations and supply structures: small regions, school districts, parish districts, sewage associations, registry office associations, administrative communities, tourism associations and private sector partnerships such as industrial parks.
- Demographic development: population development, immigration and emigration, etc.
- Development of the municipal budgets, their income and expenditure, the economic and financial situation as the basis for the fulfillment of statutory tasks.
- Geographical situation: common borders, traffic development, geographical location, natural and topographical conditions
These principles were shown in criteria cards.
There are two types of parish consolidation: voluntary and compulsory:
- Voluntary mergers took place through consensus decisions of the respective municipal councils on the basis of the municipal law; they were announced by the governor in the state law gazette. Around 60 such announcements, each relating to at least two, but also several municipalities, were announced. There were financial incentives for voluntary mergers (merger bonuses, reform funds).
- Forced mergers were made by law of the state of Styria.
- As of January 1, 2020, at the request of a majority of the community citizens, the Murfeld community in the Southeast Styria district will be dissolved and divided between two neighboring communities in the Leibnitz district.
Effects
General
The amalgamation of congregations created completely new congregations (not only earlier congregations were “ incorporated ” into other existing congregations ). The rights and obligations of the affected municipalities are completely transferred to the new municipality.
The offices of mayors, municipal councilors and other officials expired when the changes took effect for all municipalities affected by the reform. In their place, a government commissioner conducted the current and urgent business. He was appointed by the state government, an advisory board could be attached to him.
The right to use a coat of arms expired for all affected communities, a coat of arms must be reassigned. This can be the previously used coat of arms, but it doesn't have to be. This is based on the provision of the municipal code, according to which municipal coats of arms of municipalities that have been dissolved due to territorial changes are no longer valid as municipal emblems. It therefore also applies to the coats of arms of an earlier municipality whose name is continued.
Dissolved municipalities can be declared part of local government by the municipality to which they belong from 2015 . The former municipal coat of arms can be used as the district coat of arms, a separate district mayor can be appointed. The municipal code also contains further rules on the transfer of rights and obligations of the dissolved municipalities.
The new election of the municipal councilors must be announced within six months. The municipal council elections in Styria 2015 were scheduled and held for March 22, 2015.
The organization of the courts in Styria was also redefined by the “District Courts Ordinance Styria 2015” in line with the changes in the municipal structural reform.
Other organizational changes, such as B. The areas of the registry office and citizenship associations that existed after the reform were announced in November and December 2014 in the State Law Gazette for Styria or in the Grazer Zeitung (for the tourism associations).
Financially
The municipal structural reform was expected to have positive effects on the economic situation of the municipalities and thus also of the State of Styria in the medium to long term. Payments that previously had to be made to communities with negative behavior in order to continue to guarantee their tasks could be omitted. In 2010, 225 municipalities were unable to balance their regular budget on their own, the total outflow in the regular budget was 45 million euros; in 2011 this was the case for 152 municipalities with a total outflow of 29 million euros. According to the draft law on municipal structural reform, around 37.2 million euros in 2010 and almost 55 million euros in 2011 were spent on various severance payments and compensations. These sums were necessary to strengthen the budget and could not be used for investments or other purposes.
In the explanations of the draft law, the financial effects were summarized as follows:
“The enactment of a law corresponding to the present draft has little financial impact on the state of Styria. The reduction in the number of municipalities envisaged in the draft law will reduce the coordination effort and the number of procedures and transactions by state offices; taking into account the expected more intensive use of the regional offices by the newly formed municipalities in the first time after the law came into force, cost neutrality in the short and medium term and long-term savings for the state of Styria can be assumed. "
“In the first phase after the formation of the new municipalities, they will incur financial expenses, for example for organizational changes and restructuring, which can be covered by the federal merger premium (Section 21 (9) FAG 2008). As a result, through a focused use of budget funds, more efficient use of the infrastructure, optimized spatial planning, improved use of resources and, last but not least, a significant reduction in the number of political bodies at the municipal level, cost savings to the benefit of the municipalities can be expected. "
In October 2015, the Styrian Chamber of Commerce demanded further mergers of municipalities in order to increase their efficiency and to counteract the municipal fee increases. The Chamber of Commerce compared the development of community fees from 2002 to 2014 with that of inflation: While the rate of inflation in this period was 27 percent, the municipal fees rose by 56 percent. In the smaller communities with fewer than 2,500 inhabitants, the fees were increased particularly sharply - here the increase is 63 percent.
Proceedings before the Constitutional Court
The reform met with criticism. More than 40 complaints from Styrian communities were pending at the Constitutional Court (VfGH) in autumn 2014. In essence, it was alleged that the merger in each case was irrelevant and therefore unconstitutional. The applications associated with the complaints to repeal specific sections of the structural reform legislation were examined by the Constitutional Court separately for each case, insofar as they were procedurally admissible. This led to some extensive decisions, which ultimately confirmed the content of the measures taken and rejected the challenges. The Constitutional Court had to assess whether the measures envisaged by the legislature were factual in themselves based on the arguments put forward; The Constitutional Court does not assess whether alternatives are useful (possibly higher).
In addition to issues that appear to be locally relevant, it was objected that the reform violated the European Charter of Local Self-Government . This charter is an international treaty within the framework of the Council of Europe , which Austria has acceded to and which has to be fulfilled by law.
With regard to this argument, the Court pointed out that the Charter was not a constitutional law, it was only at the level of a simple law and thus did not constitute a measure of the constitutional conformity of another law.
Furthermore, referring to earlier decisions of a similar nature, the Court ruled that it belongs to the scope of legal policy (of the Styrian Landtag as state legislature) and that it is not unconstitutional if financially stronger municipalities with financially weaker ones or also positive-bearing municipalities are combined in order to create a balance or to create a (even) more efficient municipal system than before.
Initially, complaints from the following communities were dealt with: Tauplitz , Pichl-Kainisch , Rohrmoos-Untertal , Pichl-Preunegg , Etmißl , Raaba , Grambach , Waldbach , Ganz , Parschlug , Tragöß and Eisbach .
The applications were unsuccessful. In a first series of decisions, the Constitutional Court did not allow any contestation and set out the following principles in an official statement:
- The unconstitutionality of the municipal structural reform alleged in the motions for formal reasons, namely due to incorrect announcement of the law or the ordinance, does not apply.
- The constitution guarantees the individual community no right to "undisturbed existence".
- In its task of dividing the state into municipalities or changing municipal areas, the state legislature has extensive leeway in terms of legal policy.
- The Constitutional Court alone has to decide whether the principle of objectivity is observed (and not, for example, whether there would have been more appropriate alternatives).
- There are no constitutional concerns about the goals of the Styrian municipal structural reform (in particular strengthening the efficiency of the municipalities, more efficient use of the municipal infrastructure, better use of land for settlement and economic purposes, reaction to demographic developments).
- A parish amalgamation is only irrelevant if it is “foreseeable completely unsuitable due to very special circumstances” in order to achieve the goal of improving the parish structure.
- The Constitutional Court is aware that any change in the structure of the municipality not only brings advantages. Some things will not change at all, some to the disadvantage. This fact does not in itself make such a measure irrelevant.
In terms of content, only those complaints were dealt with that were raised by the affected communities and that gave concrete reasons for a possible unconstitutionality. Complaints that only contained general statements without specific reasons or that had been raised by individuals (e.g. mayors) were rejected without any substantive treatment. Regarding complaints from individuals, the Court stated that the Municipal Structural Reform Act did not interfere with their legal position (legal sphere) and that they were therefore not entitled to lodge a complaint (lack of legitimation for the application). Private individuals are not the norm addressees of the law. Since mayors in Styria are (only) elected by the municipal council (and not by the municipality citizens), this also applies to those who hold mayor's office. Statutory provisions that ended the term of office of a mayor elected by the municipal council did not interfere with his (personal) legal sphere.
The first information to be published was the VfGH's finding about the legality of the merger of the communities of Mönichwald and Waldbach .
On December 16, 2014, the Constitutional Court announced that further complaints against the structural reform had also remained unsuccessful and that only one of the most recent complaints by the municipality of Saifen-Boden had not yet been decided. Complaints from the communities of Teufenbach , Petersdorf II , Kleinlobming , Nestelbach im Ilztal , Gams bei Hieflau , Preßguts , Stein , Weißenbach bei Liezen , Dürnstein in Styria , Neumarkt in Styria , Gschnaidt , Seggauberg , Hart-Purgstall , Brodingberg , Höf- Präbach , Sulmeck-Greith , Reichendorf , Pitschgau , Großradl , Sankt Oswald ob Eibiswald , Hollenegg , Vogau , Zettling , Trahütten , Freiland near Deutschlandsberg , Osterwitz and Sankt Nikolai in Sölktal . The complaint by the municipality of Saifen-Boden was only rejected in February 2015, but with essentially the same basic arguments. In this decision, too, the Constitutional Court had no doubt that the Styrian Landtag (the provincial legislature) was moving within the framework of the Austrian constitutional concept of local communities (Art. 115 B-VG). The decision on the complaint by the municipality of Teufenbach was cited by the VfGH as an example of this series of decisions.
The Constitutional Court summarized several complaints that dealt with similar issues (e.g. complaints from neighboring municipalities, which concerned the same legislative body) in one decision. The number of his decisions therefore does not match the (larger) number of complaints.
The Styrian districts before and after the reform
In the course of administrative reforms announced together with the municipal structural reform, four new districts were created through mergers : in 2012 the district of Murtal (amalgamation of the former districts Judenburg and Knittelfeld ) and in 2013 the districts of Bruck-Mürzzuschlag (from Bruck an der Mur and Mürzzuschlag ), Hartberg -Fürstenfeld (from Hartberg and Fürstenfeld ) and southeast Styria (from Feldbach and Radkersburg ).
The number of districts thus decreased in two steps from 17 to 13.
The boundaries of some districts were also changed in such a way that newly formed communities (e.g. Schwarzautal and Landl ) belong completely to a single district, even if their districts were originally in different districts. The district of Southeast Styria has therefore ceded the municipal areas of Mitterlabill , Schwarzau im Schwarzautal and Weinburg am Saßbach to the Leibnitz district and the municipal area of Petersdorf II to the Graz-Umgebung district, which in turn transferred the municipal areas of Tyrnau and Tulwitz to the Weiz district. In addition, Hirnsdorf came from the Weiz district to the Hartberg-Fürstenfeld district and Hieflau from the Leoben district to the Liezen district.
Ultimately, only the borders of four districts remained unchanged:
- City of Graz and the districts of Deutschlandsberg, Murau and Voitsberg.
In January 2018, Governor Schützenhöfer made an initial balance sheet on the district mergers, which showed that savings of around 5.2 million euros per year had been achieved in this area, but around 10 million had been hoped for. The governor ruled out further district mergers, except "they are voluntary". How a voluntary merger could be initiated by officials bound by instructions, such as district captains, was not explained.
Districts | Number of municipalities | ||
---|---|---|---|
2011 | 2015 | 2011 | 2015 |
Bruck an der Mur district |
Bruck- Mürzzuschlag |
21st | 19th |
Mürzzuschlag district | 16 | ||
Deutschlandsberg | DL | 40 | 15th |
Graz | G | 1 | 1 |
Graz area | GU | 57 | 36 |
Fürstenfeld district |
Hartberg- Fürstenfeld |
14th | 36 |
Hartberg district | 50 | ||
Leibnitz | LB | 48 | 29 |
Leoben | LN | 19th | 16 |
Liezen | LI | 51 | 29 |
Murau | MU | 34 | 14th |
Judenburg district | Murtal | 24 | 20th |
Knittelfeld district | 14th | ||
Feldbach district |
Southeast Styria |
55 | 26th |
Radkersburg district | 19th | ||
Voitsberg | VO | 25th | 15th |
Wheat | WZ | 54 | 31 |
2011 | 2015 | 2011 | 2015 |
17 districts | 13 districts | 542 gem. | 287 gem. |
Detailed list of the newly formed parishes
From the formerly 539 independent municipalities (as of December 2014), these 287 new municipalities were formed on January 1, 2015 (251 municipality names, which exactly continue to exist, are printed in bold; 157 municipalities without any change also have a dark gray background):
The five communities Kohlberg , Limbach bei Neudau , Oberstorcha , Schlag bei Thalberg and Stocking are listed twice in the left column, as their area has been divided into two subsequent communities. In the second column, the former total population is entered, but only the relevant part of the total on the right has been taken over.
Gnas was reassembled from most parts (nine communities and one district), and Feldbach and Neumarkt in Styria each from seven parts.
District boundaries have been moved for Hieflau and other former municipalities.
- Pre-sorting of the table: 1st district, 2nd municipality (according to name from 2015)
Designation of the municipalities
- 251 old community names remained, even if incorporations took place. The names of the newly formed congregation usually only take on one of those from which they emerged.
- In 21 cases, two names (or parts of names) were coupled with a hyphen, new names were created by reformulation (Ehrenhausen an der Weinstrasse, Leutschach an der Weinstrasse, Pischelsdorf am Kulm, Sankt Georgen am Kreischberg, Sankt Veit in southern Styria) or through simplification (Aflenz , Krakau, Oberwölz, Schwarzautal, Sölk) from the core name of two. Kirchbach in Styria, Neumarkt in Styria merely given the article the inserted.
- For Feistritztal, Pölstal and St. Barbara im Mürz Valley, completely new names were chosen in the main part.
Individual evidence
- ^ Styrian municipal structural reform .
- ↑ derstandard.at - "Schützenhöfer:" Some in Vienna hope that we will fall on the nose "
- ↑ Law of December 17, 2013 on the reorganization of the municipalities of the State of Styria ( Styrian Municipal Reform Act ).
- ↑ Provincial Law Gazette for Styria of April 2, 2014. No. 31, volume 2014. ZDB -ID 705127-x , a correction that is not relevant in terms of content and only affects the promulgation clause was made in the State Gazette No. 36/2014 of April 8 2014. The relatively long time between the decision and the announcement is due to the fact that this law according to § 8 para. 5 lit. d of the Transitional Act 1920 required the approval of the federal government (because it concerns organizational rules to which federal authorities are also linked , therefore different from other state laws) BGBl 1925/368. In: Federal Law Gazette for the Republic of Austria , year 1925, pp. 1412–1420. (Online at ANNO ). .
- ↑ a b c Presentation on municipal structural reform.
- ↑ www.kleinezeitung.at - "Graz should grow by nine GU communities"
- ↑ Model of the municipal structural reform .
- ↑ Starting point for the reform efforts.
- ↑ Mission statement, p. 3.
- ↑ Mission statement, p. 4.
- ↑ Mission statement, p. 7.
- ↑ Mission statement, p. 22.
- ↑ Explanations ( Memento of the original from December 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the government bill for the Styrian Municipal Structural Reform Act. P. 9.
- ↑ Questions and answers on municipal structural reform. Starting point and goals. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
- ^ Judgment of the Supreme Court of May 27, 2013, 17 Os 1 / 13w, accessed on May 25, 2015.
- ↑ Poison attack from a dispute over a land dedication (accessed May 25, 2015).
- ↑ Alexandra Keller: Mayor's chairs are no longer in demand. In: public. The magazine for decision-makers in politics and administration. Issue 10/2019. PBMedia GmbH, Vienna. ZDB ID 2505166-0 . Pp. 8-11.
- ↑ Marlene Penz: Dead mice and poisonous chocolates. Targeting politicians. Due to their proximity to the population, mayors are increasingly exposed to violence. In: daily newspaper Kurier , Sunday 8 March 2020, p. 21.
- ↑ Mission statement, p. 39.
- ^ Handbook of municipal structural reform .
- ^ Criteria of the municipal structural reform .
- ↑ Mission statement, p. 38.
- ↑ Section 8, Paragraph 4 of the Municipal Code: Law of June 14, 1967, which enacts municipal code for the municipalities of the Province of Styria with the exception of cities with their own statute. (Styrian Municipal Code 1967 - GemO), as amended by the amendment LGBl. No. 131/2014 .
- ↑ Section 11, Paragraph 1 of the Municipal Code.
- ↑ § 103 Municipal Code.
- ↑ The new names ring out across the pond . 385 coats of arms go out. Interview with the head of the place name commission in Graz, Gernot Peter Obersteiner. kleinezeitung.at, December 24, 2014.
- ↑ § 4 Municipal Code.
- ↑ Section 1, Paragraph 4 of the Municipal Code.
- ↑ Section 4, Paragraph 5 of the Municipal Code.
- ↑ § 48 Municipal Code.
- ↑ §§ 6–11 Municipal Code.
- ↑ Federal Law Gazette II No. 298/2014 : District Courts Ordinance Styria 2015. ZDB -ID 1361921-4 p. 1.
- ↑ Ordinance of the Governor of Styria dated December 11, 2014 on the registry office and citizenship associations of Styria. Provincial Law Gazette for Styria of December 17, 2014. No. 139 Volume 2014. ZDB -ID 705127-x .
- ^ Grazer Zeitung, Official Gazette for Styria. Year 2014. ZDB -ID 1291268-2 pp. 623–632.
- ↑ Explanations of the Styrian Municipal Structural Reform Act ( Memento of the original dated December 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 2.
- ↑ Explanations of the Styrian Municipal Structural Reform Act ( Memento of the original dated December 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Pp. 10-11.
- ↑ Federal Law Gazette I No. 103/2007 : Financial Equalization Act, through which the tax revenue is distributed to the federal, state, municipalities and their tasks ( financial equalization ). Such laws are renegotiated and enacted at regular intervals. They are based on the Financial Constitutional Law ( Federal Law Gazette No. 45/1948 ) from 1948.
- ^ ORF Steiermark: Community fees: WK for community mergers , October 7, 2015, accessed on October 7, 2015.
- ↑ recognition of the Constitutional Court of 24 November 2014 G 75/2014, 76/2014 G, G 77/2014, margin note 24, p. 44
- ↑ recognition of the Constitutional Court of 24 November 2014 G 75/2014, 76/2014 G, G 77/2014, margin note 54, pp 54-55.
- ↑ Charter of Local Self-Government]. Announcement in the Austrian Federal Law Gazette No. 357/1988 . Pp. 2569-2581. (Legal reservation at the beginning, line 2).
- ↑ recognition of the Constitutional Court of 24 November 2014 G 75/2014, 76/2014 G, G 77/2014, margin note 25, p. 44
- ↑ recognition of the Constitutional Court of 24 November 2014 G 75/2014, 76/2014 G, G 77/2014, margin note 44, p. 51
- ↑ Press release of the VfGH about its autumn session 2014.
- ↑ a b first decisions of the VfGH on community mergers . Press release from October 14, 2014. First applications against community mergers rejected. VfGH makes fundamental statements on mergers in Styria.
- ↑ Finding of the VfGH, p. 45, paragraph 52.
- ↑ Using the example of Tragöß's complaint, decision of the Constitutional Court of October 8, 2014, G 65/2014.
- ↑ Legal sentence on the decision of the Constitutional Court of 23 September 2014, G 41/2014; G 170/2014; G 177/2014.
- ↑ recognition of the Constitutional Court of 23 September 2014 G 44/2014, 46/2014 V on the requests of the community forest stream.
- ↑ Press release of the VfGH from December 16, 2014: Community mergers: Not irrelevant, therefore all applications rejected. All proceedings on this subject - with the exception of one application - have been completed at the VfGH.
- ↑ recognition of the Constitutional Court of 23 February 2015 G 220/2014.
- ↑ recognition of the Constitutional Court of 24 November 2014 G 61/2014.
- ↑ E.g. the complaints of the communities of Trahütten, Freiland bei Deutschlandsberg and Osterwitz in the decision G 149/2014, G 155/2014, G 158/2014 of December 9, 2014 . In practice, such decisions are based on the addition “u. a. "recognizable by the file number. Which file number belongs to which complaint can be seen from the text of the decision.
- ↑ Ordinance of the Styrian Provincial Government of 10 July 2014, with which the Styrian District Authority Ordinance is changed. Provincial Law Gazette for Styria dated September 10, 2014. No. 99 Volume 2014. ZDB -ID 705127-x .
- ↑ steiermark.orf.at - "District mergers: Land saves less than planned"
- ^ The new municipal structure of Styria as a list
- ↑ a b Distribution to the municipalities of Bad Waltersdorf and Neudau
- ↑ a b Allocation to the communities Dechantskirchen and Rohrbach an der Lafnitz
- ^ Union of the former municipalities of Buch-Geiseldorf and Sankt Magdalena am Lemberg to form the new municipality of Buch-St. Magdalena on January 1st, 2013
- ↑ a b Distribution between the communities of Sankt Georgen an der Stiefing and Wildon
- ↑ Incorporation of the former communities Hafning bei Trofaiach and Gai to the community Trofaiach on January 1st, 2013
- ↑ a b Distribution to the communities Gnas and Paldau
- ↑ a b Distribution to the communities Kirchberg an der Raab and Paldau