The Chisinau Municipal Council on February 9 adopted the 2017 municipal budget in the first reading. The budget revenues come to 3.2 billion lei, while the expenditure totals 3.6 billion lei. Money planned to be obtained from the sale of fixed assets and from external and internal sources of financing will be used to cover the budget deficit, IPN reports.
The draft budget wasn’t supported by the group of the Socialist Party. The group’s leader Ion Ceban said they will challenge the councilors’ decision to approve the budget as this is not credible either in terms of expenditure or in terms of revenues, while the budget deficit is exaggerated. The decision should be reviewed, while the mayor general should be deprived of the right to amend the budget by ordinances.
For the second reading, the councilors proposed a number of recommendations. Some of the councilors said the municipal divisions employ an exaggerated number of people and intend to demand that the staff of the Chisinau City Hall should be reformed. The councilors also expressed their dissatisfaction with the conditions in which foreign loans are granted and requested that these should be renegotiated.
The councilors asked to prepare a register that will include the municipal property that can be sold and to estimate how much money can be earned from selling this. They also said that the kindergartens and schools should be supplied with food products through food complexes and this should be envisioned in the budget. Other councilors requested to increase the pays of kindergarten employees. It was also demanded to allocate money for resuming the transportation of municipal waste to the landfill in Tantareni. Resources were also asked for building sports grounds in the residential sector.
The Chisinau Finance Division is to synthetize the proposals formulated in the meeting and to then submit the draft budget for adoption in the final reading.
