| The Don governor threatened to take away financial powers from municipalities The heads of 23 municipalities of the Rostov region received a stern warning from Governor Vladimir Chub about the possible introduction of external financial management on their territory. Mr. Chub is dissatisfied with the way some mayors attract investment, collect taxes and spend above-plan budget revenues.
The biggest criticism from the governor was the fact that 23 districts did not submit a single project to the regional investment program. Despite the fact that attracting investment has been declared by the Don authorities to be the number one economic task. “There will be investments - there will be an increase in the competitiveness of Don goods, incomes of the population, an increase in tax revenues,” says First Deputy Governor Ivan Stanislavov. Yesterday, the figure that the Rostov region should reach in the near future was also announced - $1 billion in private investment per year.
Recently, the provincial authorities even signed special agreements with a dozen of the largest Russian banks, to which they will regularly send information about potential investment projects in the Rostov region. The same information is now posted on the official website of the regional administration. And suddenly 23 districts at once turned out to be completely indifferent to the investment efforts of the provincial authorities. Vladimir Chub said that everything “is just a disgrace” and promised to treat disobedient districts “in the same apathetic manner.”
However, the Don authorities have other complaints against the mayors. For example, in the spring it was discovered that many territories were exceeding their plans for collecting taxes to the local budget and at the same time falling short of significant amounts to the regional budget. The governor is also dissatisfied with how excess local budget revenues are spent. Regional budget legislation prescribes that above-plan money should be used as a priority to pay off municipal debts, but in practice, the debt of municipalities in the housing and communal services sector this year not only does not decrease, but also tends to grow. Likewise, wage debts to utility workers are increasing.
As a result, yesterday the governor of the Rostov region promised the heads of lagging districts that if they continue to fail to cope with their responsibilities, they will be removed from the financial management of the districts. Moreover, technically, it is not at all difficult to take away financial powers from mayors, since 90% of Don municipalities today are subsidized. However, with today’s redistribution of the budget pie between the federal center and the regions, the Rostov region itself is among those receiving subsidies. Igor BURAKOV, Rostov-on-Don |
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