Taxpayers spend billions on empty federal buildings while government idles

Washington Examiner ^ | 04/28/2013 | Michal Conger

[SeekAndFind]

Thousands of federal buildings sit empty across the country, costing taxpayers $1.6 billion every year in maintenance, but the government agency that oversees them doesn’t even have a timeline for putting the buildings to good use.

An arduous process tangled with bureaucratic rules slows the sale and transfer of unused buildings, according to David Wise, physical infrastructure director for the Government Accountability Office.

He told the House Subcommittee on Government Operations that various agencies have different rules for unused property, and without a time frame to force expediency, the process routinely takes years.

The federal government owns or leases about 400,000 buildings, almost 100,000 of which are vacant or underused. One of those is a warehouse in D.C.’s Capitol Riverfront neighborhood, where the subcommittee held this morning’s hearing as an example of mismanagement. The 32,000 square foot warehouse costs $70,000 every year in upkeep and has been unused since 2009.

“I think everyone in this room can agree that this is an egregious example of taxpayer waste that must be rectified,” said Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va.

GSA’s first step in disposing of empty buildings is an unhurried process of farming them out to government agencies before accepting proposals from the public. In the case of the warehouse, GSA has spent years evaluating possible uses. After spending $400,000 to determine it was unsuitable for the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Affairs, GSA told the committee is has “begun” the process of selling it.

[SeekAndFind]

This map visualizes a sampling of about 14,000 buildings and structures currently designated as excess.

CLICK HERE:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/fiscal/excess-property-map

[txnativegop]

I would rather the money be spent on empty buildings than on cadres of Jack-Booted thugs. Just sayin’.

And we all know the gov’t will spend the money anyway, regardless of common sense.

[Uncle Miltie]

The Federal Government is primarily a wealth transfer system.

It’s secondary mission is to burn piles of money.

[vette6387]

Never fear, Diane Fineswine’s husband, Tricky Dicky Blum (CB Richard Ellis) will get an exclusive listing on all of these buildings just as soon as he sells off some unused post office buildings ( for which he has an exclusive contract to sell and or lease) and pockets additional millions in his “retirement account.”

[MrB]

It’s primary purpose is to keep individuals from amassing “too much” power in the form of personal wealth.

[familyop]

There are similar trends in local governments—for example, no single-family building happening, while planning and building inspectors sit idle or scheme to make trouble. Meanwhile, one wonders how much total federal funding is going to all states and counties.