"The work here is solid"

There, together with project manager Friederike Wandmacher, he presented the results of the regular audit of the city of Beckum. As part of the comparative audit with similar municipalities, the GPA analysed various areas of work in the town of Beckum and gave the administration a good report card.

The areas of finance, payment processing and enforcement, committee work, personnel, organisation and IT, municipal crisis management and educational assistance were examined. When analysing the budget situation, the auditors found that the situation has also deteriorated significantly for the town of Beckum. International crises, the economic situation and rising transfer payments have changed the budget situation from 2024 with negative results. The city is planning a significant increase in its loan liabilities by 2028. "The rising credit volume will lead to higher interest and amortisation charges, which will burden future budgets," says project manager Friederike Wandmacher.

In the audit area of personnel, organisation and IT, the GPA examined, among other things, how the city of Beckum is positioning itself in the face of demographic change and the shortage of skilled workers. "In addition to an active and well-organised recruitment practice, Beckum is increasingly relying on inter-municipal cooperation and making use of the opportunities offered by lateral entry from outside the profession, digitalisation and the use of volunteers," praised the expert. The GPA also recommends that the city of Beckum further expand its process management. Digitalisation is being actively promoted and the organisation of information technology enables a high degree of flexibility in strategic and operational management, the report continues.

The town of Beckum is also already well positioned in terms of municipal crisis management. Processes are being further optimised in order to be even better prepared for future extraordinary events.

In terms of childcare assistance per 1,000 inhabitants, the town of Beckum is among the half of the comparable municipalities with the highest number of cases. "However, the fact that the expenditure per case of assistance is very low has a positive effect," says Wandmacher. The specialist child and youth welfare service incorporates economic youth welfare into controlling using specialist software: "We rate the analysis of the development of expenditure and case numbers as part of the child and youth welfare report very positively," summarises the project manager.

Mayor Michael Gerdhenrich commented on the audit results: "The audit by GPA NRW, which takes place every five years, always provides us with impetus and offers options for action as to how the work of the city of Beckum and the deployment of staff can be organised more efficiently, taking into account the financial possibilities and social challenges."

Background:
GPA NRW audited the town of Beckum as part of the regular audit of all medium-sized municipalities belonging to a district with a population of up to 60,000. All of GPA NRW's findings and recommendations on the thematic areas of action are summarised in the 206-page audit report for the town of Beckum.

GPA NRW is part of the state's supervision of local authorities and was founded in 2003. It is based in Herne. It is responsible for the supra-local auditing of all 396 local authorities, the 30 districts, the Aachen city region, the two regional associations and the Ruhr regional association. Former mayor Michael Esken has been President of GPA NRW since 15 September 2023.