Only two mayor’s offices of the existing almost 900 can secure the budget individually, without depending on the central budget, at a time when most of the mayor’s offices do not have money at least for paying salaries to employees. Contacted by IPN, Iurie Ciocan, director of the Center for Reform Implementation, said there are two more years until the next general local elections and the decentralization reform should be done until then.

The legislation provides that a mayor’s office should be set up for at least 1,500 inhabitants. In reality, about 300 mayor’s offices have fewer than 1,500 residents with the domicile in the given settlement. A solution is to create a mayor’s office for several settlements. Among the recommendations of the Council of Europe in this regard is to form common mayor’s offices for villages with a common border. The distance between the furthest settlement and a mayor’s office should not exceed 15 km. In the EU, a mayor’s office is set up for an average of 5,000 inhabitants. In many states, this figure rises to 30,000, stated Iurie Ciocan.

Currently, there are mayor’s offices with only four employees. These mayor’s offices cannot hire more employees as they do not have funds. “Only ten mayor’s offices of 900 collect sufficient incomes for covering the own costs associated with salaries. Only two mayor’s offices fully cover the costs. These are the Chisinau City Hall and the Balti mayor’s office. These figures show that a reform in this area is still needed,” said Iurie Ciocan.

One-stop shops to issue a series of documents on the spot are to be set up within the decentralization reform at the local level.