Magdeburg (dpa/sa) - Saxony-Anhalt's Court of Auditors President Kay Barthel has criticized the state government for increasing personnel expenses. "Personnel expenses only know one direction: steeply upwards," said Barthel. In the meantime, the personnel expenses in the budget have added up to more than four billion euros, which is around 30 percent of the total budget.
According to the auditors, Saxony-Anhalt is currently missing its own target of 18.7 full-time jobs per 1,000 inhabitants, which is around 20. The average for the eastern German non-city states is 18.2 per 1,000 inhabitants, while in the west it is 17.4 . More than 200 million euros could be saved in the state budget if Saxony-Anhalt were in the average of the non-city states in the east, it said.
Barthel said that anyone who, like the state government, focuses on recruiting teachers and police officers must make a return on digitization in the core administration and in other areas. "Of course you can't be the champion in every area of staffing."
