Mayors indignant at expenditure cuts

A number of mayors expressed their indignation at the fact that the Ministry of Finance obliges the local public authorities to reduce by 20% the 2009 spending. At a news conference on Wednesday, Gheorghe Vasilache, president of the Association of District Heads “Pro Europa” and head of Cahul district, said that if the mayors do not have money, the salaries will not be paid and some schools and kindergartens will have to be closed, Info-Prim Neo reports. The local public administrations received letters from the Ministry of Finance, informing them that the costs for this year should be cut by up to 20%. “It is impossible to reduce the expenditure when teachers’ salaries have been raised. We will be unable to pay them,” said Gheorghe Vasilache. According to him, the central authorities aim to cause a conflict between the local authorities of the first and second levels and with the teachers that receive salaries in a centralized way. “They try to shift the blame onto mayors. The employees of the public institutions will be the first to be affected by the cuts. A public institution cannot work without water, gas and electricity,” said the headman of Manta village of Cahul district. “In Cahul, the promised 21 million lei has not been allocated from the state budget and we cannot pay salaries to teachers. We know that there is a crisis, but we must find a solution,” the headman said. The deputy head of Ungheni district Ludmila Guzun said that the 6 million lei needed for April was not transferred from the state budget to the Ungheni budget. Representatives of the local public administrations say that the central authorities should publicly admit that Moldova has been seriously affected by the world economic crisis and takes joint measures to overcome the situation. “It is not enough to optimize the use of the financial resources. There should be taken steps to support the national producers, promote exports, attract non-reimbursable funds and support the unemployed,” said Ludmila Guzun. The mayors say that if they do not reach an agreement with the central authorities, they will sue the Ministry of Finance for not transferring the money from the state budget in due time. The local budgets are 80% financed from the state budget.