The community foundation in Penzberg has disappeared from the scene for almost five years. Since then, it has not distributed any more money to clubs and initiatives. In the past this was up to 10,000 euros per year. There isn't even a managing director at the moment.
Penzberg – The community foundation was founded eleven years ago by the city of Penzberg and the Sparkasse. At that time, Penzberg was one of the first municipalities in the district. The city contributed 100,000 euros as share capital over four years, and the savings bank added 10,000 euros. In later years, further donations were added, which increased the share capital. The aim of the community foundation is to distribute the interest income for charitable purposes. This also happened four times between December 2015 and December 2019. However, there has been no sign of life since then.
The first distribution in December 2015 was a manageable amount: 500 euros, which was divided between a senior swimming group and a family in need. In 2016 and after a two-year break in 2018, the amount was significantly higher. 10,000 euros were distributed to a total of 15 clubs, initiatives and projects, including the seniors' advisory board, the then youth parliament, the Oase clubhouse and the mountain rescue service. The last distribution to date was in December 2019 with 5,100 euros. The then city treasurer Hans Blank, managing director of the community foundation, justified the shrunken amount with the low interest rates and small special donations from outside.
Managing director for foundation is missing
Since then, there has been a low tide in distributions, unlike other community foundations such as Peiting, Schongau and Peißenberg. City council member Wolfgang Sacher (BfP) complained this March as part of the audit for the 2022 financial year that there has been no managing director for the community foundation since Hans Blank left as city treasurer a year ago. That means: The position has not been filled.
Apparently there haven't been any meetings of the board of trustees for a long time. According to reports, documents relating to the community foundation could no longer be found in the town hall after Hans Blank's departure. The city apparently had to ask the savings bank.
Documents can no longer be found?
In the town hall, people responded to questions from the local newspaper rather cautiously. City treasurer Marika-Edith Markert, who resigned in April, said that she could not comment on the reason for the lack of distributions because she was not in charge of the community foundation from 2019 to mid-2023 - she only came to the city in April 2023. The same applies to the questions of whether low interest rates have prevented a distribution and what the prospects are for 2024. She also gave no answer to the question about the community foundation's documents.
However, she was able to provide information on foundation capital and interest income, even if these were only for the 2022 financial year. Accordingly, the nominal foundation capital amounted to 121,050 euros at the end of 2022. According to Markert, the funds “for the fulfillment of the foundation’s purpose”, i.e. the interest income that can be distributed, amounted to 9,300.33 euros. She did not provide more current figures.
When asked, Mayor Stefan Korpan gave several reasons why there had been no distribution for years: first the Corona period, during which no meetings were allowed to take place in some cases, then the difficult budget discussions, Blank's farewell and the move to Markert, which the treasurer's office did not have left time for the community foundation. “The budget issue took priority,” said Korpan.
The management of the city treasury must be replaced
It's similar now too. After Markert's departure, the city must first fill the management of the city treasury. And the 2024 budget and financial planning are still not ready. Nevertheless, according to Korpan, there will be a distribution again this year. When that will happen is unclear. They are trying to solve this internally within the administration, he explained. Suggestions had already been collected last year as to who could be the recipient.
Regarding the supposedly missing documents, the mayor said he didn't know what was supposed to be gone. You don't need any documents. You just have to look at the account. Everything is very transparent, says Korpan. “In any case, the money is there.”