Waldbach-Mönichwald Explained

Waldbach-Mönichwald
Settlement Type:Municipality
Pushpin Map:Austria
Pushpin Mapsize:270
Pushpin Map Caption:Location within Austria
Coordinates:47.4472°N 15.8825°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:Austria
Subdivision Type1:State
Subdivision Name1:Styria
Subdivision Type2:District
Subdivision Name2:Hartberg-Fürstenfeld
Parts Style:para
Leader Title:Mayor
Leader Name:Stefan Hold
Elevation M:625
Population Density Km2:auto
Timezone:CET
Timezone Dst:CEST
Utc Offset:+1
Utc Offset Dst:+2
Postal Code Type:Postal code
Postal Code:8251, 8252, 8253
Area Code Type:Area code
Website:waldbach.riskommunal.net

Waldbach-Mönichwald is a municipality since 2015 in the Hartberg-Fürstenfeld District of Styria, Austria.

The municipality was created as part of the Styria municipal structural reform,[1] at the end of 2014, by merging the former towns Waldbach and Mönichwald.[2]

A petition against the merger, raised by the town Waldbach at the constitutional court, was not successful.[3]

Geography

Municipality arrangement

The municipality territory includes the following six hamlets (populations as of January 2015[4]):

The municipality consists of the five Katastralgemeinden: Arzberg, Karnerviertl, Rieglerviertl, Schmiedviertl and Schrimpf.

Tourism

The municipality formed, together with Fischbach, Miesenbach, Ratten, Rettenegg, Strallegg, St. Kathrein am Hauenstein, St. Jakob im Walde, Birkfeld, Wenigzell and Vorau, the tourism agency "Joglland-Waldheimat". The base is in the town St. Jakob im Walde.[5]

Politics

Mayor

In the election for the town council in April 2015, Stefan Hold (ÖVP) from Mönichwald was elected as the first mayor of the newly formed municipality.[6]

The municipal court also included deputy mayor Arrigo Kurz (ÖVP) and the town treasurer Martin Übelher (SPÖ), both from Waldbach.

Until 31 December 2014, Andreas Riegler (ÖVP) in town Waldbach and Josef Freiberger (ÖVP), in the town Mönichwald, were the incumbent mayors. In the merger of the municipalities, there was at first no mayor. Thereby in protest against the merger, none of the former town politicians were to be mayor, and from the Landesregierung Steiermark with Franz Schröck, a Mitarbeiter of the Hartberg-Fürstenfeld, was installed as interim commissioner. This had led to the resulting duties until the election of the mayor during the inaugural meeting of the Municipal Council.[7]

Municipal council

The municipal council consists of 15 members. After the results of the 2015 election, the council convened with the following members:

At the session of the town council, the groups of both former municipalities were there, with eight members from Waldbach and seven from Mönichwald.

The prior elections brought the following results:

Party2015201020052000
merged municipality Waldbach Mönich-
wald
Waldbach Mönich-
wald
Waldbach Mönich-
wald
Vote % Mand.V. % M.V. % M.V. % M.V. % M.V. % M.V. % M.
ÖVP581 54 8303 59 6394 63 6282 51 5361 57 6329 62 6339 57 9
SPÖ270 25 4133 26 2178 29 3184 34 3230 36 3136 26 2200 34 5
FPÖ218 20 377 15 150 8 083 15 141 6 064 12 158 10 1
Counts1,323629744646753620746
Percentage82%83%85%85%85%87%82%

Demographics

Year Mönichwald Waldbach Total
1869 844 745 1589
1880 891 724 1615
1890 851 695 1546
1900 853 703 1556
1910 901 740 1641
1923 868 703 1571
1934 950 809 1759
1939 934 886 1820
1951 888 865 1753
1961 918 867 1785
1971 923 956 1879
1981 1034 920 1954
1991 1065 901 1966
2001 975 797 1772
2011 898 723 1621
2014 864 693 1557

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.gemeindestrukturreform.steiermark.at/cms/beitrag/11558627/69294537 Steiermärkische Gemeindestrukturreform
  2. § 3 Abs. 4 Z 6 StGsrG, Landesgesetzblatt für die Steiermark Nr. 31, Jahrgang 2014. .
  3. http://www.ris.bka.gv.at/Dokumente/Vfgh/JFT_20140923_14G00044_00/JFT_20140923_14G00044_00.pdf Erkenntnis des VfGH
  4. http://www.statistik.at/wcm/idc/idcplg?IdcService=GET_PDF_FILE&RevisionSelectionMethod=LatestReleased&dDocName=103419 Statistik Austria, as of 1 January 2015
  5. Grazer Zeitung. "Amtsblatt für die Steiermark". 30 December 2014, 210. Jahrgang, 52. Stück. Nr. 307. p. 626.
  6. Gemeinde Waldbach-Mönichwald: Gemeinderat (accessed on 28 May 2015).
  7. [Kleine Zeitung]