The municipality has announced that the Administrative Court in Mannheim has dismissed the plaintiffs' applications in the latest judicial review proceedings against the current visitor's tax bylaws and has not authorised an appeal. Mayor Daniel Enzensperger is relieved: "I hope that the judicial review proceedings against the visitor's tax for boat moorings have now come to an end. The levying of the tourist tax for boat moorings is permissible, and that's a good thing." Case law has now clarified the legal situation, which creates legal certainty for both the municipality and the mooring holders concerned.
Prehistory of a long legal dispute
The dispute over the tourist tax for boat owners in Kressbronn goes back several years. In March 2019, the municipal council decided to introduce a visitor's tax for boat moorings. The visitor's tax is basically a tax that must be paid by people who are not resident in the municipality and who have the opportunity to use municipal facilities and take part in events. While overnight guests in the municipality are traditionally obliged to pay, day tourists are expressly excluded from the visitor's tax due to the high collection costs. However, the extension to boat moorings led to considerable resistance from local harbour operators and boat owners.
Following the introduction of a visitor's tax for boat moorings, local harbour operators filed an appeal with the Administrative Court in Mannheim. The court partially ruled in favour of the plaintiffs in a judgement dated 13 July 2021 and decided that the municipality was permitted to levy a visitor's tax for boat moorings, but only for permanent moorings and not for guest moorings. The municipality then adapted its visitor's tax bylaws in line with the case law, but the harbour operators lodged another appeal. In its ruling of 14 October 2022, the Administrative Court once again ruled in favour of the applicants, this time criticising the calculation of the flat-rate annual visitor's tax.
Municipality had to make two improvements
The judges of the Administrative Court criticised two central points of the tourist tax statutes. Firstly, they criticised the flat-rate assessment, in which two people were generally charged per boat, campsite or second home. Secondly, the court categorised it as unreasonable to generally assume a usage period of 30 days for boat moorings. In the court's view, it was only reasonable to assume 15 days of use without justification in individual cases. The municipality implemented this case law in a revised version of the visitor's tax statutes and adopted a 4th amendment to the statutes.
As reported by the "Schwäbische" and Südwestrundfunk, among others, the Motor-Yacht-Club Obersee and an individual boat owner appealed to the Administrative Court against these revised regulations. Other harbour operators did not join the proceedings. The applicants again challenged the general levying of the tourist tax for boat moorings and, for the first time, the calculation on which the tourist tax is generally based. However, the Administrative Court ruled in its judgement of 22 December 2025 that the municipality's 4th amendment bylaws and the calculation on which they were based were now fully lawful.
Tourist tax on Lake Constance not an isolated case
The municipality of Kressbronn is not an isolated case with its visitor's tax for boat owners. Other municipalities on Lake Constance - such as Uhldingen-Mühlhofen, Sipplingen and Friedrichshafen - also charge a comparable tax on long-term residents. In Uhldingen-Mühlhofen, for example, it is 52.50 euros. The confirmed visitor's tax for permanent moorings in Kressbronn is just under 60 euros per year. Those who pay receive the "Echt Bodensee Card" and can use tourist offers and facilities.
Not all boat owners are likely to be happy with the court's decision. Peter Mayer, a 64-year-old architect from Biberach, who has been sailing on Lake Constance for eight years, criticised the visitor's tax as unfair to YACHT years ago. He said: "I just think it's unfair! The visitor's tax is supposed to finance tourist facilities in the municipality, such as the lido here, which you can then use at a favourable price. But I'm not there. I come to the municipality as a non-resident who has his own boat in a private harbour, not as a tourist." Mayer saw a clear difference between sailors and hotel guests and could not agree with the argument that they presumably use Kressbronn's facilities.
Question of principle instead of amount of money
For Mayer, his opposition to the tourist tax was not primarily about the amount of money, but about a fundamental issue. "It's not primarily about the money. If Kressbronn gets its way here, other municipalities will follow suit. I'm sure of that," he feared. He particularly criticised the fact that all permanent residents are treated equally, regardless of boat size. Mayer has led his opposition to the visitor's tax with enormous commitment and has filled several folders with correspondence.
Following the Administrative Court's decision, the question now arises as to whether the plaintiffs will take further legal action. According to its chairman, the Motor Yacht Club Obersee will first examine the decision of the Administrative Court and then decide whether and how to proceed. Kressbronn's mayor Enzensperger, on the other hand, hopes that calm will now return to the matter and that legal certainty is guaranteed for both the municipality and the boat owners affected.
