Two offices DOGE wanted closed in Beaumont will stay open after all

The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, announced it would cancel hundreds of government leases in offices all across the country to save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

The IRS office at Edison Plaza and the U.S. Maritime Administration office at Century Tower, both in downtown Beaumont, were slated to close.

Today the planned $660 million in lease terminations is down to $140 million according to DOGE, and KFDM/Fox 4 has learned those two Beaumont government offices that were slated to close have disappeared from the list of lease cancellations.

Just last week, the Beaumont Maritime Administration office at Century Tower on Fannin Street was on the lease termination list. The owner of Century Tower, Beaumont developer Tom Flanagan, confirmed to KFDM/Fox 4 the Maritime Administration will stay after all.

DOGE noted the 24-hundred square foot office cost nearly $50,000 dollars in rent a year. Canceling it would have amounted to a savings of almost $17,000, according to DOGE.

The IRS office at Edison Plaza was also going to catch the DOGE blade. The cost-cutting organization apparently felt the $115,000 a year for rent was too expensive.

But it, too, vanished from the lease termination list.

A spokesman for Edison Plaza property management tells KFDM/Fox 4, the IRS decided to stay.

Doge noted in March that closing the 4,800 square foot office would save roughly $105,000 in taxpayer money.

Both the Maritime Administration and IRS were not available for comment likely due to the federal government shutdown.