A not particularly cool “cooling point” in the park, rapidly increasing costs for the government airport and the expensive complete renovation of Bellevue Palace – from the taxpayers’ association’s point of view, these are particularly obvious examples from Berlin and Brandenburg of the careless handling of tax money by state authorities. Here are cases from the association’s new “Black Book”:
Too lavish a government airport?
The Taxpayers' Association complains that a project that was once supposed to cost several hundred million euros has now become a lavish, billion-euro project. The “prestige project” at BER Airport in Brandenburg urgently needs “a stop sign,” demands the association – and lists that the site should be almost doubled from around 30 to almost 60 hectares. “The future government airport will now include staff buildings, hangars, guard buildings, operations buildings, parking positions for aircraft, taxiways and an underground refueling facility.” The flight readiness now also includes 1,170 military and civilian posts, all of which are supposed to move into quarters there.
According to the Taxpayers' Association, the background is, among other things, the planned complete relocation of flight operations from Cologne-Wahn to Schönefeld as well as more and larger aircraft. However, the fact that the Bundeswehr's government aircraft are still based in North Rhine-Westphalia has led to many expensive, unnecessary and environmentally harmful empty flights for years: According to the ministry, around half of the flights in the first half of the year were completed without passengers. The federal government has not yet commented on the criticism.
“Magnificent renovation” of Bellevue Palace
Everything is being turned inside out during the general renovation of the seat of the Federal President, and Bellevue Palace “will essentially be new” – that’s the criticism from the Taxpayers’ Association. “Money doesn't play a role, the calculation adds up to 860 million euros across four partial construction measures and including a risk buffer made up of 250 risk positions,” complains the association.
The President's Office also has to observe the budget principles of thrift and efficiency, it goes on to say. “The renovation of the Federal President's official residence does not have to become a billion-dollar project!” says the Taxpayers' Association. A complete renovation of heating, ventilation, plumbing, electrical installations, elevators as well as security and control technology is planned.
According to the “Schwarzbuch”, new additions include a geothermal heating and cooling supply for the entire property, photovoltaics on the roofs, an underground technology center as well as infrastructure and logistics for a separate mail and goods delivery with a security gate. Another point of criticism: A 1,300 meter long fence system should also be renewed and provided with new video surveillance. That costs around 18,400 euros per running meter. The Federal President's Office referred to its homepage, which provides information about costs.
Not so cool place in Mauerpark?
The association also finds a temporary “cooling point” in Mauerpark near Bernauer Strasse in Berlin worthy of criticism. “The wood and steel construction offered 25 square meters of seating under a shady slatted roof as well as green plant boxes, as a cool retreat on hot days.” The Taxpayers' Association writes disparagingly of a "shack costing almost 45,000 euros" that was built as part of the experimental housing and urban development research program.
The club's conclusion: "In the hot summer weather, it was no cooler under the "Cooling Point" than under the numerous trees in Mauerpark." From the club's perspective, a proper economic feasibility study would have shown "that this shack is not an answer to climate change."
The responsible state office for health and social affairs (Lageso) pointed out that the “Cooling Point” is a prototype for heat protection measures in densely built-up urban areas. “It was never the aim of the project to record temperature differences between the trees and the shade of the cooling point. The experience from the project should show what works, what needs to be improved and under what conditions comparable measures can be implemented sensibly and economically in the future. It has been shown that the misting system and the drinking fountain are used by guests of the Mauerpark, and the feedback on campaign days was “almost entirely positive”. According to Lageso, evaluation and the creation of a practical guide are planned for the coming year.
The Black Book is controversial
The Taxpayers' Association is a private association that politically advocates, among other things, the efficient use of tax money and solid state finances, i.e. it questions the federal government's new debt and spending. He lobbies for this in the Bundestag and with highly publicized campaigns. The Taxpayers' Association emphasizes that it is politically neutral.
The Black Book is controversial. It is criticized for merely listing spectacular individual cases, but often ignoring their context and not drawing a representative overall picture of tax waste. Authorities and municipalities named therein often defend themselves against the allegations and justify their financial decisions.
