The Supreme Court of Auditors (ORH) warned the Free State of Bavaria on Friday for overpriced property purchases. Since 2018, there have been purchase prices for properties of in some cases more than 90 percent above the market value determined by the expert. In February, the ORH referred to the examination of four properties: the “Carmelite Monastery” in Straubing, the “Raspberry Palace” in Erlangen, another area in Straubing and an area in Nuremberg that was formerly used by the railway. The areas were mostly acquired for university purposes. In these cases, according to the ORH, the administration did not prove that these “excess value purchases” were the only economic possibility of meeting demand or that they represented the most economical alternative.
Further over-value purchases have been made and continue to be expected, as the building ministry laid down rules for this this year. Such purchases should take place “only in very special exceptional cases”. Therefore, the ORH feels compelled to admonish – via a so-called advisory statement to the state parliament. In it he demands “to make particularly high demands on the profitability of overvalue purchases and their evidence”. The Free State should “uphold Parliament’s budgetary rights” and, before signing a purchase contract, “decide by law whether an excess purchase should be made and, if so, how it should be financed”.
The building ministry of Kerstin Schreyer (CSU) announced that the recommendations would be “carefully examined”. In the four cases, however, it was “the only economic possibility of meeting the needs. The state parliament was extensively involved in all cases”. The proposal to create “individual legal authorization” for such purchases is “not required under budgetary or constitutional law and would also restrict the Free State’s ability to act in the acquisition of land too much”. The green budget politician Claudia Köhler sees the ORH statement as “a decent wad” – because of a “careless handling of taxpayers’ money”. Helmut Kaltenhauser (FDP) criticizes “pure waste of tax money”.