Months have passed since the Limburg Catholic Church episode. News out of the media today indicates that the Catholic Church select committee to audit the thirty-one million Euro renovation project is finished.
To bring you up to speed. The Catholic Church in Limburg (about thirty minutes north of Wiesbaden).....had a bishop in charge of the local church and the region. There's a property across from the church....which has several support buildings and a residence for the Bishop. There was a decision made to renovate a part of the church, and a major part of the residence area. The residence area? It's about 1.5 times the size of a NFL playing field....so it's not a major estate with luxury pools, tennis courts, etc.
I've never heard what the original plan was....nor do I think anyone in Limburg really knew the original content of the original plan. When everything was completed....this past summer (2013)....the bill came to thirty-one million Euro...a shocker to most folks who looked at the size of the 'compound', and the extent of work done.
Over-paid? Yeah, there were several items noted....from dining tables to a bathtub of six-star quality. The church stepped in and sent the bishop off for 'recovery' (my word, not theirs). He hinted that he'd like to come back to the old job. Well....that won't happen.
So the public in Limburg is fairly upset with the mess. I suspect if the bill had been five million Euro....they would have still gotten fussy about this.
Typically, in order to make it all appear normal.....you'd break up a project, and do one or two pieces at a time. Over the course of five years....you'd spend the thirty-one million....but in chunks of a million here....a million there, and the public would just agree with this.
Onto the audit committee. The news media says that this group of priests and audit managers....have assessed the whole thing, and agree that it was all legit. Yeah.....no deceit....no corruption.....no issues. Shocker? Yeah, I think when this gets out onto the streets of Limburg tomorrow....it will trigger people to ask for prosecutor review of the audit committee.
You can imagine how this plays out. Most prosecutors lack construction background, project management expertise, and budget control training. So, he'll have to ask the state to help him (financially of course), and let him hire another audit committee...under German state control. Some state folks will pause here and ask where exactly this will all lead and try to limit this mess.
By May, I'd expect some state audit committee to arrive and spend six months reviewing all the documents and questioning the construction company (under oath). They may find a shocking construction site, with roofs likely leaking, and pipes in badly need of replacement.
Toward the end of 2014, I'd expect the second audit to come mostly around to agree with the first audit, with some minor issues and maybe a couple million Euro in question-marks. Acceptance in Limburg? No. And this might even beg for a federal audit team by the end of 2014. An audit of an audit of an audit?
Yeah. That's how bad things might get.
So, to the final detail of the news media update. Things are bad enough now with hostility....that the Catholic Church is thinking seriously of slanting the Limburg area to be no longer ranked as a bishop's territory, and just group the city and it's church under Trier or Mainz. They'd just get a priest....not a bishop.....as their head guy. Management would come from some guy down the road.
You can pause and ponder over this. What need would you have for the newly renovated compound? Zero. Other than the residence....but a priest wouldn't rate for these type of digs. So I suspect the end-plan would be to package the newly renovated compound....to sell. Who would pay twenty-odd million for this compound in the most expensive part of Limburg? I'm not sure. I'm not even sure that they could get twenty-odd million for the property.
It'd make for fairly swanky property for some ultra-rich singer who wanted a nice house....support facility for his private studio.....and a party place for friends.
How would the locals react? They'd be hostile over the ranking deal....the loss of the Bishop position....and the gimmick of selling the property. But at this point.....there's nothing much to gain or lose. Just my humble opinion.
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