One person in ten knows very well municipal budget provisions, poll

The citizens have a vague impression about how the public money is used. 90% of those polled want to know more about how the municipal budget is designed and fulfilled. Most of the respondents said they obtain related information from the media and private discussions. The results of the poll carried out by the Association of Independent Press (API) were presented in a news conference, Info-Prim Neo reports. The survey shows that only 10% of the respondents know very well the provisions of the municipal budget. These are public servants. According to the respondents, the road repair and modernization of the centralized water supply and sewerage system are the key areas on which public money should be spent. But the people consider that the municipal administration should also allocate money for the repair of schools and kindergartens and the cleaning of recreational places. “We know that the Chisinau administration allots money for these areas, but there is no connection between the authorities and the people so that the latter know about this. No attempts are made to consult the people. The City Hall is not very interested in finding out the opinions of the people as to how the public money should be spent,” said API executive director Petru Macovei. Most of the respondents consider that the opinions of the residents of the municipality are not reflected in the local budget. 25.6% of those questioned said their proposals were fully ignored, while 23.3% do not know if the authorities take or do not take into account the people’s opinions when planning the budget. The respondents want the mass media to provide more information about the municipal budget. The opinion poll covered a sample of 90 persons who included civil servants, representatives of small businesses and ordinary people. It was conducted within the Monitoring and Controlling the Use of Public Money in Chisinau and Balti Project that is implemented by the API with financial support from Soros Foundation Moldova.