Electric underfloor heating for a pedestrian bridge and a toilet that costs almost 900,000 euros. These and similar cases of questionable public projects from Bavaria have ended up in the current Black Book of the Taxpayers’ Association. Every year, the association denounces what it considers to be wasted tax money and compiles examples of it. Often there are new buildings in the book that are already known to be large and expensive.
This year, for example, this includes the new Museum of the Future in Nuremberg, whose annual rental costs of more than 2.5 million euros have often been discussed. The three-digit million costs for the G-7 summit at Schloss Elmau last summer are also a case for the black book. But sometimes the association also considers smaller projects worth mentioning.
A few examples from Bavaria: A cycle and footpath from Traunstein in Upper Bavaria, which was built over the federal highway 304 at a cost of almost two million euros, ended up in the book. The criticism is aimed in particular at the fact that ice on the bridge in winter should be thawed away with underfloor heating costing 150,000 euros. The city of Traunstein, which had to bear the maintenance, brought electricity costs of 23,000 euros in 2021.
In view of the costs, the city administration is now turning off the heating and, as usual, has the snow and ice cleared by the winter service employees. “If you had thought a little more carefully beforehand, you could have saved yourself the ecological nonsense of a heated footpath and cycle path and thus a lot of money,” says the taxpayers’ association.
The taxpayers’ association considers the bridge heating for the Heilig-Geist-Steg to the east of Traunstein to be superfluous. The city administration has now dealt with the high costs – the employees of the winter service are now responsible for freedom from snow and ice.
(Photo: Uwe Lein/dpa)
The Heilig-Geist-Steg was released in mid-2020 “after some bad luck and mishaps”. Because there were already problems during construction because the bridge components did not fit perfectly – delays were the result. The state building authority in Traunstein, which was responsible for the construction, nevertheless raved about the completion of an “extraordinary bridge structure” that was also “a representative entrance gate” for the Upper Bavarian city.
Construction director Christian Rehm justifies the bridge heating as necessary due to the design. Because the particularly light and filigree steel construction is more sensitive to de-icing salt than a concrete bridge, which is responsible for a lot of damage to bridge structures. “We assume that the service life of the bridge will be extended by at least a third by not spreading salt, that’s about 35 years,” says the head of the authorities about the black book criticism.
In the Upper Palatinate district capital, the authors criticize a toilet facility that costs 890,000 euros. “Again this year, a ‘quiet place’ made it into the black book,” the association says smugly. However, the toilet building in Regensburg also offers a covered waiting area for bus passengers. The Taxpayers’ Association sees the need for a modern, barrier-free toilet, but this is also cheaper in the center of Regensburg.
The association finds the construction costs of 890,000 euros for the public toilet facility with a waiting area for bus passengers on Regensburg’s Schwanenplatz far too high for a toilet.
(Photo: Ulf Vogler/dpa)
The city administration sees it differently and refers, among other things, to the status of the city as a world heritage site: “It is difficult to find an appropriate, creative answer to the complex requirements and requirements of a service building in the historic old town area and world heritage site,” counters a spokeswoman. Before the planning, there was even a public competition to redesign the square. In the end, an appropriate solution was found “which rightly stands out from the impression of a motorway toilet in this sensitive location, despite the industrial production of the toilet modules”.
In the Middle Franconian town of Ansbach, the taxpayers’ association was annoyed by a renovated historic wooden pavilion. The 13 square meter kiosk, originally built in 1850, was bought by the city and renovated for 137,000 euros. These costs would have doubled, later follow-up costs would have arisen in order to ultimately use the kiosk for gastronomy. The city leaders think little of such calculations. Mayor Thomas Deffner (CSU) commented on the black book mentioning that the pavilion fulfills the desired revitalization of the Ansbach promenade with a café that is still well received even in October. “To be able to show such a rare monument, which is also an Ansbach landmark, in public space and with an accepted use, is a stroke of luck in terms of urban planning and monument preservation.”
In Augsburg, the taxpayers’ association complained about a turf on the new tram line to the neighboring municipality of Königsbrunn. The Augsburgers had a 137,000 euro rolled turf delivered from northern Saxony, also for reasons of noise protection. Almost two million euros have also been invested in additional special construction measures on the 1.8-kilometer-long “grass track with high vegetation level”, in particular for a design-related rail insulation.
In Koenigsbrunn, a different technique was chosen for a 2.5-kilometer route with self-seeded lawns, which only cost 3,300 euros. Instead, noise barriers were built there for 1.6 million euros. According to the taxpayers’ association, the total price was lower there, despite the longer distance. “One could have saved oneself the additional expenses for the expensive, ecologically less sensible rolled turf in Augsburg”, says the association. The Augsburger Stadtwerke, on the other hand, refer to other cities. In Munich there have been such high grass tracks “for a long time and often,” says a spokesman for the municipal company. In Augsburg, such a track has now been built for the first time following a decision by the city. It was about better noise protection and urban design.