From August 2026, parents in Geesthacht's municipal daycare centers will pay 100 euros per child per month for lunch. The city council approved this in March. For a family with two children, that means 2,400 euros a year — just for food.
This week, a mother from Geesthacht wrote to me. Her two children attend a daycare center in the city, both full-time. She had just found out that the meal fees would be going up in August, and she was speechless. I quote her roughly, anonymously at her request: "The way I see it, I only go to work anymore to pay for daycare and lunch. That can't be right."
I looked into it. And I can tell her: it's true.
The Numbers Nobody Has Written Down Publicly
The development of meal fees in Geesthacht's municipal daycare centers is traceable in the bylaw documents. Anyone who takes the trouble to lay them side by side sees the following picture:
Until July 2025, parents paid 65 euros per child per month for communal catering. From August 2025, that became 75 euros. From 1 August 2026, it will be 100 euros. The city council approved this on 13 March 2026.
That is an increase of 54 percent in less than two years.
For a family with two children in full-time care, the step from 75 to 100 euros means concretely: 50 euros more per month, 600 euros more per year, just for lunch. Together, this family then pays 2,400 euros annually for food alone, before a single cent for actual childcare is deducted. Anyone with both children in full-time care quickly ends up with total costs of over 1,000 euros per month.
What the Bylaw Says — and What It Conceals
The legal basis is the new user fee bylaw of the city of Geesthacht (VO-26/3754). The accompanying council resolution bears the number VO-26/3573. I have read the resolution and both versions of the bylaw in the original.
What stands out: the administration itself admits in the explanatory notes that catering costs at some daycare centers had not previously been fully passed on to parents, and that the city had been covering the deficit. Exactly that is now ending. What the increase brings the city is also stated in the resolution: 6,250 euros more per month, 75,000 euros more per year, from the municipal daycare centers Heuweg and Familienzentrum Regenbogen alone.
What many parents do not know: the fundamental decision to raise fees was already made in February 2025, via resolution VO-25/3007, without a specific amount being fixed at that time. Parents only found out now what that means.
What gave me pause while reading was Section 1, Paragraph 3. It still states that the city of Geesthacht grants "as an expression of the public interest" a subsidy from general budget funds to cover total costs. That sentence was not deleted. It sounds good. The direction points elsewhere nonetheless.
Who Actually Pays for This?
A question that must be asked: who does this increase hit hardest?
Not the wealthy. They can afford it.
And even for low earners, there is an important limitation that barely comes up in public debate: the social discount under Section 7 KiTaG Schleswig-Holstein applies exclusively to childcare fees, not to meal fees. Those receiving basic income support can cover lunch through the education and participation package. Those who earn just above that threshold pay in full. It hits the middle. Families whose income is too high for social discounts, and too low for composure. Exactly the families this city needs when it talks about birth rates, skilled workers and the future.
The Political Status
The increase to 100 euros has been decided. The city council approved it on 13 March 2026. The bylaw comes into force on 1 August 2026.
On Thursday, 4 June 2026, the social committee deliberated a revised version of the bylaw (VO-26/3754) with editorial adjustments in a public meeting, 6 p.m., town hall Markt 15. The city council is to formally confirm this on 12 June 2026. The increase itself will not change.
The meeting on Thursday is public. Listening is permitted. Public question time as well.
What Remains
The mother who wrote to me asked a simple question. What am I still going to work for?
It is not a rhetorical question. It is a calculation that more and more parents in this city are doing — and that less and less often works out.
50 euros here, 50 euros there. Daycare, electricity, groceries, rent. Every increase comes with a reason, and every reason is correct. In sum, the same thing emerges nonetheless: everyday life that gets more expensive for people with normal incomes and leaves less and less room. Geesthacht is not an isolated case. It is a symptom.
