The Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR) ordered Finance Minister Helio Fallas to design a normative instrument that works as a reference when state institutions rent buildings, premises and lands.
This is because it was detected that the Administration paid for office rent up to $ 60 per square meter, while the market price did not exceed $ 23 in 2015.
The CGR analyzed 1731 contracts, out of which 860 are used in administrative offices, 700 in facilities to offer services and 171 for warehouses and parking lots.
The country paid more than 77 billion colones in rents during 2015, but 70% of the expenditures were invested in only 12 institutions. Most buildings are located in San José.
According to the report, the Ministry of Finance (MINHAC), the Judicial Branch (PJ), the Ministry of Public Education (MEP) and the Ministry of Public Security (MSP) were the institutions that consumed most of the rent budget. These four entities accounted for 72.4% of total public expenditure on rental of buildings and premises for this group in 2015.
Likewise, the study revealed that 89% of the entities ruled out the option to buy the property and questioned the waste of space in the rents. According to the CGR, if “potential adjustments” were made, savings of more than ¢ 4 billion colones could be generated.
Marieta Montero, director of Administrative and Tax Assessments of the Ministry of Finance, explained that the request of the Comptroller’s Office was based on a methodology that allows to unify the amounts of rents paid by the State under the same criteria, since there are great differences in rent payments in the same areas.