Kaliningrad region: how to solve the problem of depressed areas

Georgy Boos also spoke about the desire to unite some of the districts of our region; then he proposed to unite the municipalities of the Baltic Sea coast into one Primorsky district.

Now the largest municipality on the coast is Zelenogradsky, but there are also cities that are separate municipalities: Pionersk, Svetlogorsk, Svetly, Baltiysk and Yantarny.

In an interview with Klops.Ru, the chairman of the Association “Council of Municipal Formations of the Kaliningrad Region”, head of the administration of the Svetlovsky urban district, Sergei Lyutarevich, spoke on the issue of optimizing the number of municipal formations in the Kaliningrad region.
“- There are 15 municipal districts and 7 urban districts in the Kaliningrad region. For example, let’s take the comparable Svetlovsky urban district with a population of about 30 thousand people and the Baltiysky municipal district, where 34 thousand people are registered. In the first case, there is the head of the district, who is also the chairman of the Council of Deputies, and the head of the administration. In the case of Baltiysk - the head of the district, the head of the district administration, the head of the city of Baltiysk and the head of the administration of Baltiysk and the heads of two more settlements with administrations. Costs for maintaining local government bodies in Svetly - 41 million rubles, Baltiysk - 78 million rubles.
Both city districts and municipal districts are provided for by law, but now the task of the heads is to determine which form of division is more effective. Governor Nikolai Tsukanov proposed to consider the issue of administrative-territorial division in order to create an optimal local management structure and efficient use of the budget, including reducing the cost of maintaining the apparatus of officials. Perhaps these goals can be achieved through the abolition of districts and the formation of districts. Such a decision must be reasoned and studied. And to be realized not through revolutionary means and not through emotions, but through careful calculation, because numbers are a stubborn thing! The final decision will be made with the active participation of the population."
http://www.klops.ru/news/Obschestvo/53651/Sergej-Ljtarevic:-Optimaljnaj-struktura-upravlenij-na-mestax-pozvolit-sokratitj-rasxody-na-cinovnikov.html

Recently, rumors have appeared about the possible unification of the Nesterovsky, Ozersky and Gusevsky districts; the initiator of the merger is Governor Nikolai Tsukanov. It is not difficult to do this if there is political will. The Federal Law “On the General Principles of the Organization of Local Self-Government in the Russian Federation” states:
“Article 13. Transformation of municipalities
1. The transformation of municipal formations is the unification of municipal formations, the division of municipal formations, a change in the status of an urban settlement in connection with granting it the status of an urban district or depriving it of the status of an urban district.
2. The transformation of municipalities is carried out by the laws of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation on the initiative of the population, local government bodies, government bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, federal government bodies in accordance with this Federal Law.
4. The merger of two or more municipal districts, which does not entail changes in the boundaries of other municipal entities, is carried out taking into account the opinion of the population expressed by the representative bodies of each of the merged municipal districts.”

The governor has all the possibilities to unite the three eastern districts of the region into one.

But how necessary is this?

There are 22 municipalities in the Kaliningrad region:
- city of Kaliningrad
- Polessky municipal district
- Bagrationovsky municipal district
- Pravdinsky district
- Baltiysky municipal district
- Svetlogorsk district
- Gvardeysky district
- Slavsky municipal district
- Guryevsky municipal district
- Chernyakhovsky municipal district
- Gusevsky municipal district
- Ladushkinsky urban district
- Zelenogradsky district
- Mamonovsky urban district
- Krasnoznamensky municipal district
- Pionersky urban district
- Neman municipal district
- Svetlovsky urban district
- Nesterovsky district
- Soviet urban district
- Ozyorsky district
- Yantarny urban district.

According to the data that was presented to me about a year ago, of all the municipalities, only Kaliningrad, Svetlogorsk and Svetly have deficit-free budgets.

A little history:
“On April 7, 1946, the Königsberg region was divided into 14 districts: Gumbinnensky, Darkemensky, Semlandsky, Insterburgsky, Koenigsbergsky, Kreuzburgsky, Labiausky, Pilkallensky, Ragnitsky, Tapiausky, Friedlandsky, Heiligenbeilsky, Heinrichswald and Stallupensky.
On September 7 of the same year, the districts were renamed: Gumbinnensky to Gusevsky; Darkemensky to Ozyorsky; Zemlandsky to Primorsky; Insterburgsky to Chernyakhovsky; Koenigsbergsky to Guryevsky; Kreuzburgsky to Bagrationovsky; Labiausky to Polessky; Pilkallensky to Krasnoznamensky; Ragnitsky to Soviet; Tapiausky to Gvardeysky; Friedlandsky to Pravdinsky; Heiligenbeilsky to Ladushkinsky; Heinrichswaldsky to Slavsky and Stallupensky to Nesterovsky.”
In 1947, Bolshakovsky, Zheleznodorozhny and Kaliningrad districts were formed. In 1958, the Sovetsky district was renamed Nemansky. A year later, the Kaliningrad region was abolished.
In 1962, the Bolshakovsky, Zheleznodorozhny and Ladushkinsky districts were abolished, and in 1963 - Gvardeysky, Gusevsky, Nemansky, Primorsky and Chernyakhovsky. In 1965, Gvardeysky, Gusevsky, Nemansky, Primorsky (became called Zelenogradsky) and Chernyakhovsky districts were restored.

At the beginning of 2008, there were 18 municipalities in the Kaliningrad region: the city of Kaliningrad; 4 urban districts (Baltiysky, Svetlovsky, Svetlogorsky, Sovetsky) and 13 municipal districts (Bagrationovsky, Gvardeysky, Guryevsky, Gusevsky, Zelenogradsky, Krasnoznamensky, Nemansky, Nesterovsky, Ozersky, Polessky, Pravdinsky, Slavsky, Chernyakhovsky).

In fact, it turns out that the modern administrative division of the Kaliningrad region into municipalities was completed back in 1965, and during the reform their number was only increased.

Moreover, it is unclear how the Baltic Sea coast can develop at all if there are 6 municipalities there at once!

In the east of the region, the situation is no better; prosperous Sovetsk neighbors the depressed Slavsky district. The Guryevsky district is developing only on the borders with Kaliningrad, while Kaliningrad needs to expand its borders.

It is necessary to radically reconsider the number of municipalities based on the economic, demographic and social realities of today.

Let's compare the administrative division of the Kaliningrad region with our neighbors Lithuania and Estonia. There are 10 counties in Lithuania, 15 counties in Estonia, although there is the example of Latvia, where there are 110 regions.

In any case, it is necessary to review the borders of Kaliningrad, merge the coastal municipalities into one, expand the borders of Sovetsk and create a separate district.