Deputy Furtuna expects Chisinau's 2009 budget to remain scarce

Chisinau's coffers next year will remain marginal, Deputy Mayor Mihai Furtuna thinks. Commenting on preliminary estimates at a City Hall meeting on Monday, Furtuna announced that amid rising costs the municipality's incomes for 2009 are expected to decrease by 186 million lei to 1.395 billion. According to him, the reason is the multitude of legal modifications made by the central authorities. The introduction of the zero-rate tax on corporate income alone will result in a detraction of roughly 250 to 260 million lei from the city's planned incomes. 4 million lei will vanish following the ban on the patent-based entrepreneurship and another 4.6 million following the prohibition for the municipality to issue liquor and tobacco licenses. Another factor expected to slow down the financial performances of the municipality is the transfer of the City Hall's account from the Savings Bank to the Central Treasury, where the interest on the balance amount is way lower. The municipality's contribution to Chisinau's budget will constitute 98.1 percent of the total – 1.368 billion lei, with the remaining 1.9 percent (approx. 25 million) to be covered by government subsidies. The deputy mayor suggests the municipality should take a series of coercive measures to boost incomes. The city administration should pay increased attention to municipal property auctions and maybe sell some stocks, he said. Concerning expenses, the deputy mayor said the most starving areas would be housing, public transport, and green spaces, which in 2009 will get some 210 million instead of 750 million needed. Furtna also informed the City Hall that the municipality's debt owed to the heat distributor Termocom – 217 million lei – adds considerably to the financial burden. In addition, the city's administration will have to identify solutions to complete the long-lasting repair works in Valea Morilor Park.