The shortage of staff is one of the most serious problems experienced by the local public authorities (LPAs). The executive director of the Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova (CALM) Viorel Furdui said the low salaries and the heavy workload discourage many of the young people to work in mayor’s offices and local councils. For their part, the mayors request the central authorities to amend the law so that the additional incomes collected into the local budgets are used to pay employees, IPN reports.
The CALM executive director noted the lack of specialists is a problem not only of the central authorities, but also of the local authorities. According to him, owing to the low pays, an increasing number of employees of the LPAs leave the system.
“The staff problem is serious for the local public authorities. At the central level, problems are also faced in hiring specialists, but the situation at the level of the LPAs is even more serious. There are a series of obligations that are not covered financially. Those from the local administration work overtime, but are not remunerated. It is a vicious circle. We want to benefit from high-quality services, but the system was built badly and we cannot use the own incomes to pay the employees,” Viorel Furdui stated in the talk show “Moldova Live” on the public TV channel M1.
The mayors ask the central public authorities to help them, saying some of the request made by CALM to the authorities necessitate only political will and no financial resources.
“The attitude to the local elected officials, including the stopping of abusive, politicized and unjustified inspections, does not imply financial costs. We would like the law on pay grades in the budgetary sector to be amended. Many of the local public authorities have own incomes that can be used to stimulate specialists with low salaries. This does not necessitate additional costs from the state budget. We need an amendment that will enable the LPAs to stimulate the employees. It goes to the right to self-determination,” stated Alexandru Bujorean, mayor of Leova town.
The representatives of the government said that both Parliament and the Government look for solutions to encourage the development of localities. The agenda includes a bill that will increase the incomes of the local public authorities.
“We proposed a bill enabling to transfer the road toll to the local budgets. It is a bill drafted by MPs, but there is also a similar bill of the Government. In Parliament, we will decide which one will be given priority. What is important is for the money to be transferred to the local budgets. This money should be used to improve local road infrastructure,” said PAS MP Larisa Voloh.
Under the Government’s bill, the tax for the use of roads by motor vehicles registered in the Republic of Moldova will not be a source of income for the road fund as this toll will be fully transferred to the local budgets.
