Administration - Court of Auditors criticized: More and more staff at the state
The State Audit Office criticized the personnel policy of the state government. With the budget for 2024/2025, the state government created further new positions, the Audit Office stated in its recently published Financial Report 2024, published on a Tuesday. The observed growth continued unabated with over 1,000 new positions in 2024.
State Audit Office President Martina Johannsen warned: "With an increasing number of state employees goes also a significant increase in personnel expenses." In addition, a large administration is not automatically a good administration. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, according to the latest census on May 15, 2022, still had 1.57 million inhabitants – 2.4 percent fewer than in 2011.
Digitalization is a risk – "Risk"
According to the Audit Office, the state and the municipalities are lagging behind in the future topic of digitalization. A year after the statutory deadline for the Online Access Act (OZG) ended on December 31, 2022, the state administration had only offered 20 percent of all administrative services electronically, according to Johannsen. The electronic services to be provided by the municipalities were also not yet available across the board. The Audit Office sees a major risk in the slow progress of digitalization for the modernization and performance of the administration.
The Audit Office sees less of a funding than an implementation problem. Significant budget funds have been made available for IT expenses in the state budget, but many projects have been stalled for years, according to Johannsen. "Since 2019, the state administration has not been able to use the funds provided in the given amount."
Overpaid Chief of the Tourism Association
An audit at the Tourism Association Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as a recipient of state funding revealed, according to the report, that the managing director has been overpaid since 2019. The association had violated the provision for recipients of funding. According to the report, the managing director was supposed to be paid a remuneration comparable to the salary group B 2, but he was paid according to salary group B 5. The difference is said to be around 1,500 Euros per month.
The managing director's salary was paid from state funds. In addition, he and his wife were allowed to use their official car privately – this was also criticized by Johannsen. The appointment of the managing director as Tourism Ambassador of the State in 2022 also received criticism in the report: His tasks were not clearly defined, it was stated. For the job, the managing director reportedly received a bonus of 20 percent of his salary.
No plan for bike path construction [
(Note: There is no corresponding section in the original text about a missing plan for bike path construction.)
For the construction of bike lanes in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, there is reportedly no plan at the state government level, according to the State Audit Office. In the immediately responsible Energy Ministry, there was neither an overview of the inventory and condition nor a clear plan for creating a bike network, stated Johannsen. Therefore, the ministry has not been able to determine the construction and financial requirements and has not been able to ensure the proper use of public funds. The currently responsible Economic Ministry has not yet addressed these fundamental issues.
Every fifth booking was erroneous
According to its own statements, the State Audit Office audited 2.381 of the 45.7 million transactions of the state administration in 2022. Each fifth had significant errors, it was stated. An error was significant, for example, if a financial loss had occurred for the state or could have occurred. However, this was apparently not dramatic. "Despite the fact that the income and expenses were mostly properly documented, this does not speak against an exoneration of the state government," said Johannsen.
The Court of Auditors highlighted the state government's lack of progress in digitalization, pointing out that only 20% of administrative services are available electronically, falling short of the required Online Access Act (OZG) compliance.
The State Audit Office criticized the double budgeting in the state, suggesting that although significant funds have been allocated for IT expenses, many projects have been stalled for years, leading to underutilization of funds.
In the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the Court of Auditors noticed a lack of planning for bike path construction at the state government level, as the responsible Energy Ministry had no inventory or clear plan for creating a bike network, leading to improper use of public funds.
In their assessment of the state administration's finances, the Court of Auditors reported that every fifth transaction had significant errors, although most income and expenses were properly documented, which does not necessarily exonerate the state government.
