City hall to ask Chisinau Council to review budget

The city hall will ask the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC) to modify the budget in order to optimize expenses. “It was a populist decision, which is now felt in the income part,” said deputy mayor Mihai Furtuna. He referred to the fact that the councilors had voted the 2009 budget establishing incomes 400 million bigger than initially provided in the draft, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to Furtuna, the tax income plan was raised 39% compared to the incomes planned in 2008. “In planning this tax, they ignored a series of modifications to the Tax Code and the reality in the business activity lately, when the number of employees is visibly dropping,” the deputy mayor told the staff sitting of the city hall. “The situation is alarming. On April 29, Chisinau collected but 76% of the amounts planned for January-April. Urgent measures need to be taken,” Furtuna stated. According to him, there is a critical situation at many municipal enterprises – SA “Apa-Canal Chisinau”, the Trolleybus company, the cleaning enterprise “Autosalubritate” – and this makes it necessary to reorganize or even to privatize them. Also, the Economy General Division must be reorganized, which would enable to privatize non-dwelling areas, the deputy mayor opines. Maria Caraus, the head of the Finances Division, says the monthly collections to the municipal budget amount to about 100 million lei, what is sufficient to cover only the personnel- and maintenance-related expenditures. Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca called on his subalterns to operate well-weighed expenditures. According to him, all the divisions will be checked up shortly. If financial irregularities are found, dismissals will follow, Chirtoaca warned.