Warning municipalities with the Government's decision of personal income

The adoption of the Local Finance Bill, which the government recently withdrew from the legislative plan, is being highly valued. Such a thing is being sought by the Association of Kosovo municipalities and civil society. According to them, adopting the bill in question allows the ban on abuse and better exploitation of public money for the needs of municipalities.

“All personal revenues collected before fiscal year 2022 and unexplored become part of the Kosovo Fund in the” banking balance.

This standard, written in paragraph 6 of Article 9 of the Law on Business Divisions for the 2023 Budget, could cost municipalities with millions of euros. About 38 million could be lost only to the capital, and for that it has expressed concern President Progress Rama, who has said Pristina's own means belong only to Pristina.

The executive director of the Kosovo Commission Association, Saban Ibrahimi, says the government's proposal that became part of the law violates local autonomy guaranteed by specific laws.

“If the central level thinks that unjustly to take these financial means to municipalities, the two laws to which a full autonomy is guaranteed in terms of managing finances from private revenues should be changed. We are hoping that the central institutions will take into account the demands of the mayors, so that the paragraph in question will not appear during the second reading in parliament”, Ibrahim told RTK.

The government should not count on the municipality's own revenues, since, by law, these are exclusive municipalities' revenues, says Bekim Salihu from the “Institute. GAP” He further tells Radio Kosovo of problems municipalities may have in realising capital projects.

“A number of municipalities, during the year, launch capital projects based on their own revenues. Taking these revenues on the part of the Government, in addition to having a bad impact on the dynamics of meeting capital projects in municipalities, also risks the possibility of municipalities being indicted by private companies because of not meeting obligations under the terms of”, he said.

Sun Hadzimusa, from the Progress Initiative, the organisation that monitors the work of several municipalities, also says the bill must be changed.

We demand that this part be removed from the bill, due to the fact that it seriously violates and prevents the actual functioning of the municipality. If 38 million is taken away from Pristina, then it is impossible to implement the promised elections projects, even in this case we will have a failure for next year's fiscal year”, he said.

The Law on Business Divisions for Kosovo's 2023 Budget was passed in the first reading in the Assembly on November 17th.