Mayors of a number of settlements said the encounter difficulties in implementing the Law on Local Public Finances that took effect at the beginning of this year. They said the law is good and facilitates activity, but the central authorities should deal with the obstacles faced by the local authorities. The subject was discussed in a meeting staged by the Parliament’s commission public administration, regional development, environment and climate change on March 18, IPN reports.
The head of the Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova Tatiana Badan said the ascertained difficulties impede the functioning of the public institutions. These refer mainly to the lack of liquidity at the start of the year and the provision of tax exemptions based on the local budgets without covering them.
Mayor of Festelita village of Stefan Voda district Nicolae Tudoreanu said the amounts transferred to the local budgets are not calculated based on the inflation rate. “Earlier, when medium-term calculations were done, the inflation rate and gradual rises in salaries were taken into account. Within the new system, we cannot manage these things economically and the local authorities have to deal themselves with the inflation and the pay raises for employees of institutions funded with money from the local budget,” he stated.
Mayor of Orhei town Vitalie Colun said the Tax Code includes the national catalogue of units of trade and services, but does not specify all the types of services that are provided on the town’s territory. As a result, some of the economic entities do not pay local taxes. Therefore, legislative amendments are needed.
The mayors also complained about the economic entities’ refusal to supply the public institutions with food products following the depreciation of the leu, the rigid public procurement system being one of the problems that needs to be dealt with.
The Law on Local Public Finances was passed by Parliament in the final reading on November 1, 2014 and took effect on January 1, 2015.