Date updated: 16. August 2024.
In the Budget and Finance Committee, Bremen’s Education Senator had to defend the budget freeze she had imposed. The questioning lasted more than three hours.
The opposition has accused Bremen’s Education Senator Sascha Aulepp (SPD) of budgetary trickery. Aulepp had to justify herself to the specialist politicians of the Citizens’ Assembly because of the financial hole in her department and the imposed budget freeze.
The chairman of the budget committee, Jens Eckhoff (CDU), asked whether the figures in the draft budget for schools and daycare centers were used specifically to meet the key figures. His parliamentary colleague Marco Lübke said that he felt deceived as a member of parliament because the department must have known when the budget was drawn up that the money allocated was not enough. Thore Schäck (FDP) spoke of intent because some costs for education and children were apparently set too low.
Errors in the education budget?
The attacked senator rejected the accusations, but admitted that there were technical errors in her budget. These are now to be corrected. In the committee, Aulepp again estimated the financial hole at 45 million euros – initially there was talk of 150 million. The missing money is to be made up by the end of the year through higher revenues: for example, food in daycare centers and schools is likely to become more expensive.
The department also wants to recoup subsidies if, for example, daycare centers are not opened. In addition, construction costs for schools could be carried over into next year.
How did the budget freeze come about?
In July, Aulepp pulled the emergency brake and ordered a spending freeze for education and children. Just one month after the citizens’ assembly had approved the budget. The department had underestimated the spending on schools and daycare centers. This is evident from the controlling report of the department’s budget holders: heating costs for schools, rents for vocational school locations, and spending on temporary teachers were underestimated.
What does “budget freeze” mean?
In the case of public budgets – such as those of the federal government or those of individual departments at state level – a so-called budget freeze can be declared if it becomes apparent that the planned budget is not likely to be sufficient. Expenditure is then restricted. As a result, only the mandatory tasks can be fulfilled – further expenditure must be examined separately.
Those: outside and inside.
This topic in the program:
buten un binnen, 16 August 2024, 19:30
