Langenfeld

Langenfeld is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia in the district of Mettmann. The suburban city is located between Düsseldorf and Cologne. Langenfeld was formed from the two localities of Richrath and Reusrath and received city rights in 1948.

Langenfeld has no public debt as of October 3, 2008. The debt clock installed at the town hall in 1997, showing the current debts of Langenfeld, the Rhineland, and the national debt, got demounted end of 2008 and handed over to Grevenbroich. In Langenfeld it had served its purpose, so the comment by former mayor Magnus Staehler. The town was honored for that with the prize Kommune des Jahres 2007 in the national contest Großer Preis des Mittelstandes of the Oskar-Patzelt-Siftung. To achieve that goal, on the one hand taxes got raised and in addition cuts of subsidies to clubs applied, so that debts halved from 1997 up to 2002. Being free of debt, and with that regaining free hand, was celebrated with a big party for the citizens at the first weekend in October under the slogan "Golden Times". Up to 2013 the savings from that surpluses had strongly diminished again by the budget deficits of the following years.

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