Building permit fee - What did you pay for it?

um, so the answer is quite simple.

Based on your profile: Verwaltungsgebührensatzung Pforzheim

there you can find for the building permit:

52.10.02.01
Approval of plants and facilities (§ 58 Abs. 1 Landesbauordnung) or issuance of a consent (§ 70 Abs. 1 Landesbauordnung)
6 ‰ of the construction costs, at least 140 €

plus a small flat-rate expense allowance and then it's correct.

Who are "they"? Does the amount of €2489.50 appear on a fee notice from the approval authority, or is the general contractor demanding this amount?

The building authority.

Our architect says that the authorities charge up to 0.6% of the construction cost.
In our case, however, it would even be over 0.6.

Fuchur was kind enough to calculate the 0.6%. That is €2382. Anyone can calculate that with publicly available information. Where the hundred euro difference comes from can now be questioned, but it is not worth the "scandal" that is being implied here.

That can be anything. Flat fees, delivery charges, copies, official documents, adjustment of the construction sum,...

at least the 50 cents strongly suggest extra expenses that do not arise from the construction sum.

I also didn't feel like reading the entire fee schedule, the OP can gladly do that.

The Christmas party levy is gladly pushed onto the building authority because they charge such high fees, so another hundred doesn't matter anymore.[emoji3][emoji111]️

I just looked it up for NRW, where there is the AVerwGebO NRW. There you also find 0.6%, but not of the production costs, rather of the shell construction sum. This is determined as a flat rate based on the building volume according to DIN 277 multiplied by the shell construction value, which is updated annually and currently stands at €123/m² for residential buildings. So everyone can easily calculate for themselves what the permit will cost.

Significantly less than in Pforzheim, obviously. But considering that I have already been waiting for four months, I would have gladly paid the €2,000 "surcharge."