Austere 2009 municipal budget diminishes Chisinau’s development possibilities, say City Hall officials

The Ministry of Finance imposes a 2009 Chisinau municipal budget that is by 40 million lei smaller than the budget for 2008. “It could happen that we will not have resources for investment or for other spending, only for the strictly necessary expenses that make up 90% of the budget,” the Mayor General of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca said, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. The mayor made the statements after the deputy mayor Mihai Furtuna spoke about the financial situation of the municipality of Chisinau, describing it as worrisome. According to Furtuna, the May-August collections to the budget are by 16 million lei smaller than the projections, and this is worrying, the deputy mayor said. “We all must take into account the rather gloomy situation and carefully plan the spending for the next year so as to avoid a financial blockade given the over 100 court decisions worth over 100 million lei and other things that put a burden on the City Hall’s budget,” Dorin Chirtoaca said. In this connection, the mayor reminded of the debts to Termocom SA resulting from the difference between the approved heating charge and the charge paid by the consumers, which is paid from the municipal budget. 61 million lei out of the debt of 151 million lei has been paid. “From the resources we have in the budget or could obtain as over-revenues, we cannot pay even the debt for the first four months. The autumn-winter period and the first months of the next year do not have financial coverage,” Chirtoaca said. According to the mayor, the money could be saved if the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC) approved the regulations concerning the nominative compensations for hot water and heat, which were submitted to the Council this spring and rejected. “The given regulations offer the possibility of helping directly the persons that need compensations for heat and not all the people, spending thus 300 million lei from the municipal budget,” Chirtoaca said. According to officials of the City Hall, if the regulations are approved, the costs will be halved to 137 million lei. On April 14, the CMC approved a draft decision providing for an insignificant reduction in the heating charge and excluding compensations. On August 20, the Supreme Court of Justice canceled the Council’s decision so that the old charge approved on January 25, 2007 was restored. So, the City Hall was forced to continue paying the difference between the charges to Termocom SA. The mayor expressed his bewilderment at the fact that the agenda of the CMC meeting scheduled for September 11 does not include the draft regulations concerning the nominative compensations. “I cannot understand this because there is only a month until the start of the heating season,” Chirtoaca said, demanding that the regulations are included in the agenda as additional item. The preliminary municipal budget for 2006 calculated by the Ministry of Finance is 1.540 billion lei. The budget calculated by the General Finance Division in cooperation with the City Hall’s subdivisions totals 1.534 billion lei. After finalized, the CMC will examine the budget and approve it in first reading. The Chisinau Electric Transport Division is in litigation with IS Moldtranselectro over historic debts. If it loses the case, the municipal authorities will have to pay 13 million lei from the budget. Referring to this trial, Dorin Chirtoaca said that it is an attempt to make the City Hall insolvent.