Dog tax in Ladenburg: majority adopts new by-law — we abstained
In its meeting on Wednesday, 21 October 2026, the town council adopted a new dog tax by-law by majority vote. It comes into force on 1 January 2027.
What changes
Nothing changes for most dog owners in Ladenburg. The sharpest change concerns so-called listed dogs (dogs of breeds classified as dangerous, Listenhunde): for the first listed dog the tax will be 600 euros a year — up from 108 euros, an increase by a factor of more than five. For each additional listed dog the charge is 1200 euros. The exemption for holders of a dog-handling certificate (Hundeführerschein) does not apply to listed dogs.
We see other elements of the by-law as improvements: dogs serving people with diabetes or epilepsy, as well as hunting dogs, are newly exempt from the tax.
How we voted and why
The by-law was adopted by majority vote. The votes against came from Sophian Habel (CDU) and Frank Kresse (BfL). Our two councillors, Ernst Peters and Jens Riemenschneider, abstained.
The reason for our abstention: the by-law contains a number of points that we regard as improvements — voting it down outright would have been wrong. However, we consider the increase in the tax for listed dogs from 108 to 600 euros disproportionate, and the exemption for the dog-handling certificate applies to listed dogs of all animals not at all. On top of that: grandfathering protection for the small number of owners who already keep a listed dog today was not carried over. Anyone who already owns their dog will pay the full new rate from 2027. In the meeting Ernst Peters was quoted as saying the increase was “somewhat too high” (Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung, 23 October 2026).
Background and outlook
The administration justified the new by-law among other things by the fact that the cost of the dog tax disc has risen from 1.50 euros to 10 euros. Mayor Stefan Schmutz announced that the by-law would be allowed to run for one year and then reviewed.
We will hold the council to whether that review actually takes place — and will continue to press for grandfathering protection for current owners to be added.
Source: report by the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung of 23 October 2026 on the town council meeting of 21 October 2026, supplemented by our own position.
The quotations above are translations of remarks made in German and reported by the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung. The German original of this article is the authoritative version.