Disgruntled municipalities in Northern Macedonia seek more competencies

Some of the municipal leaders say they are facing lack of funds due to low revenues from taxes that enable the realisation of investments to improve infrastructure and other services.

From 2002 until today, we see no major change except that some competencies were given in urbanism, partial competence in education, while in the sphere of culture municipalities have no competence. I think we're the most centralized state in the region”

And it is the last time the municipalities are given real competencies in education, to solve problems in education, in the field of culture, and yet a large amount of tax money, more municipalities return. This stood in the prime minister's election programmes, but it has never been realised”, the mayor of the Gostivar municipality, Arben Taravari, has declared.

The municipalities, under the Law for Local Power, are financed by personal resources, donations from the central budget, budgets from various funds, as well as borrowing. Also, 4.5 percent of increased value tax spent on citizens or other subjects goes to the municipal budget.

But these revenues, according to municipal leaders, are insufficient. Changes are also required by the City of Skopje, as a special unit of local self - administration.

No free decentralisation. Either more money in municipal budgets or greater competence. Something needs to be changed in order to have municipalities meeting the needs of the residents, so that they can maintain the decentralised municipal sovereignty. Our analysis shows that there is a need to increase VAT for municipalities, at least 10 percent of taxes go to municipal budgets. Now we get 4.5 percent. We also require 50 percent of personal tax tax from only 3 percent as it currently ends up in the municipalities' budgets”, the Skopje City stance says.

But, some local government affairs connoisseurs say there is an inequality between municipalities, in particular with Skopje and other municipalities.

Professor from Tetovo, Bashkim Selmani, says Skopje is the chief centre and should be developed, but not also put aside other municipalities, which, according to him, faces lack of basic conditions.

“There should be an investment mortorium in Skopje to enable other municipalities to develop because they have no basic rights, no channeling, no transportation, no health services, no emergency assistance, and other services. I consider there must be another strategy, to enable the development of other municipalities, which over the next 30 years have only been stolen, while no” has been invested in them, Selmani says.

Local Power Minister Goran Milevski says the Government plans to open the debate on increasing municipal competencies, but that, according to him, will take place after a detailed plan.

“We aim at changes at three levels, and one of these concerns decentralisation of institutions. We've talked to all the ministers, to have a mirror of what concessions they're willing to make, or which powers to pass through to the municipalities. We're doing tests and we're going to come up with a concrete proposal, while in the debate we're also going to include municipalities”, Milevski suggests.

Northern Macedonia has 84 municipalities and the City of Skopje as a special unit of local power with 10 municipalities in its composition.