State Court of Auditors warns of budget imbalance
The State Court of Auditors is extremely critical of the black-red plans for a special climate protection fund. The Senate wants to finance climate protection measures in this way. "According to the Berlin Debt Brake Act, such borrowing is only permitted if there is an emergency situation," said Court of Audit President Karin Klingen on Thursday at the presentation of her latest annual report. However, the Court of Audit has doubts about an emergency situation, said Klingen. "It does not consider the very general statements in the draft bill to be sufficient to justify an emergency situation."
The recent ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court on the federal budget strengthens the debt brake and confirms the position of the Court of Audit. "According to the ruling, an emergency situation must be specifically justified for the respective financial year," emphasized Klingen. And the causal link between the emergency situation and the measures planned to combat it in the respective year must be precisely explained. The special fund for climate protection amounting to five billion euros for several financial years did not meet these requirements. The Court of Audit's annual report was handed over to Cornelia Seibeld (CDU), President of Parliament, this morning.
Klingen is also critical of considerations to pay for a test track for a magnetic levitation train in Berlin from the special fund. This idea from the CDU was recently brought up by parliamentary group leader Dirk Stettner. Exceptions to the debt brake are precisely not there to finance long-term investments that people have always wanted to make, said Klingen. "I therefore hope that the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court will also be taken seriously with regard to the maglev proposal." She made similar comments with regard to the black-red considerations to pay for the renovation of police stations from the special fund.
Klingen also warned of an imminent imbalance in the Berlin budget. The Court of Audit is critical of the plans of the black-red coalition to use up reserves of 2.5 billion euros in the current year and 4.6 billion euros in 2024/2025. The state's corresponding financial reserves are therefore likely to be exhausted in the near future. According to the Court of Audit, it is also to be expected that expenditure will permanently exceed income in the future. Klingen recommended limiting expenditure in future.
The Court of Audit looks with some concern at the possible consequences of the socialization of large housing companies for the state budget. It had carried out its own calculations on this, said Klingen. "It has come to the conclusion that a socialization would only remain without significant financial consequences for the state or the tenants if the housing companies were compensated far below the market value of the apartments."
"Even compensation of around a quarter of the market value would require either substantial subsidies from the budget or rent increases," said Klingen. "That would be roughly eleven billion euros." Until now, the Senate has assumed significantly higher compensation sums. Klingen announced that the Court of Audit would shortly be submitting a statement to the Senate on the subject.
The Court of Audit also sharply criticized the work of Wohnraumversorgung Berlin (WVB). It recommends its dissolution. The institution, which was created in 2016, has the task of developing political guidelines for the six state-owned housing companies so that they can fulfill their tasks more efficiently. However, it has not fulfilled this mandate. Wohnraumversorgung Berlin has continuously expanded its workforce and cost taxpayers around four million euros between 2016 and 2022.
The main reason for the institution's failure to perform its tasks was its inefficient structure as an institution without legal capacity with a two-member board and management by two different senate administrations. "The Court of Audit therefore recommends dissolving the institution and placing this task directly with the Senate Department responsible for housing."
Household budgets could be affected if the Senate continues to rely on borrowing for climate protection measures, as the State Court of Auditors considers such borrowing to lack a sufficient justification of an emergency situation. The Senate's proposal to use taxes to fund a special climate protection fund could provide a more stable financial basis for household budgets in the long term.
Source: www.dpa.com
