Chisinau Council passes 2009 budget

The Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC) voted unanimously for the 2009 budget Tuesday. The councilors adopted the budget as proposed by the City Hall, agreeing to operate modifications to it after the winter vacation, Info-Prim Neo reports. The incomes are set at 1.534 billion lei, while the expenses – at 1.602 billion. The deficit is to be covered from incomes from selling municipal assets. Compared to the 2008 budget, the 2009 budget's incomes are 50 million lei less. Deputy mayor Mihai Furtuna says the budget covers only 50% of the necessary. Most of the expenditures in 2009 will go to education – 690 million lei (70% of the necessary). The culture will get 56 million lei (100%), healthcare – 35 million, transport and roads – 164 million , housing – 206.5 million. No money is provided for constructions, despite the needs assessed at 700 million lei, he said. Svetlana Popa, the leader of the Communist councilors, proposed that both the incomes and expenses chapters should be added 295 million lei, but the idea failed to get the necessary number of votes. According to Liberal leader Mihai Ghimpu, “the Communist rulers changed the law, so that the incomes to reach the municipal budget, now go to state budget.” Oleg Cernei from Moldova Noastra Alliance said the budget needed to be approved depending on the state budget. “The contribution of the municipality to the state budget is 7 billion lei, while the state returns only 2.1 million lei.” Liberal-Democrat Alexandru Tanase has called the budget to be more like a price list and criticized the City Hall for “not presenting any investment project”. “This budget may lead to paralyzing the work of the municipality,” he said. CMC's chairman Eduard Musuc says “it's going to be cold in apartments in 2009, too, since the budget does not provide for paying off the debts for heating.” Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca said “nothing has been hidden, and the municipality will have a stricter and more balanced budget in 2009.” Dorin Chirtoaca proposed to increase the budget deficit with 73.8 million lei to allocate money for constructions, but the proposal was did not gain enough votes. The draft is to be voted after a second reading.