Rozendaal council votes to merge with Rheden and Brummen

The Rozendaal municipal council decided on Tuesday evening that the village will join a new municipality with Rheden and Brummen. Rozendaal has been independent since 1 January 1818. The merger is not final: the councils of Rheden and Brummen must still agree to Rozendaal taking part.

With about 1,800 residents, Rozendaal is the smallest municipality on the Dutch mainland. Only Schiermonnikoog and Vlieland have fewer. Rheden has about 44,000 residents and Brummen about 22,000.

Research showed Rozendaal faces a structural budget deficit from 2027. Its civil service of about 15 to 17 staff is also considered too small for the growing number of statutory tasks. The council concluded that carrying on alone is no longer financially and organisationally responsible. Arnhem was first considered as a partner, but the executive saw the best future with Rheden and Brummen.

Mayor Ingrid Timmer called it a difficult but responsible choice. "This is not the outcome we hoped for at the start of this process," she said. She said independence would demand "major, lasting investment in people, knowledge and systems" that the municipality cannot afford, and that joining now lets Rozendaal still influence the village's future.

Not all residents agree. A petition asking the council for a careful reconsideration was signed more than 500 times. The citizens' initiative Rozendaal Blijft says it is insufficiently substantiated that the budget could not be balanced next year, and that alternatives were not seriously examined. "There is no clear indication why a decision is necessary today and could not be taken in a few months," it said.

Rheden and Brummen are already working towards a merger, a redivision (herindeling) process. The municipality says Rozendaal can take part "as an equal third partner". If all three councils agree, the municipalities will work together on a joint redivision design.