Viktor Basargin explained why he needs city managers

Yesterday, the Governor of the Perm Territory, Viktor Basargin, met with members of the region’s public chamber and answered their pressing questions. Chamber members representing Perm theaters lobbied for increased funding. At the meeting, the governor for the first time explained his attitude to the mass introduction of the institution of city manager in Perm municipalities. It turned out that Mr. Basargin does not believe in the managerial abilities of mayors who won direct elections.

The governor began his meeting with social activists by reproaching himself. “In two and a half years of work, I am meeting with the public chamber for the third time. I think this is not enough, we need to meet more often,” said Viktor Basargin, after which he spoke about some of the results of the socio-economic development of the Perm region. Mr. Basargin noted the positive dynamics in the birth rate (since the beginning of the year, 39,600 newborns have been registered in the region, which is one thousand more than a year ago), the region ranks first in terms of salary growth in healthcare, and second in education in the Volga Federal District (VFD) , from 2012 to September 2014, 13,571 children were provided with places in kindergartens; by the end of the year, another 4,700 places will be opened. The growth rate of industrial production amounted to 9.7%, according to this indicator the region ranks seventh in the Volga Federal District. Since 2012, according to the governor, an “investment breakthrough” has been made, as a result of which 420 billion rubles have been attracted to the region, including foreign investment. In two years, one and a half times - from 2 billion to 5.1 billion rubles. Investments in the agro-industrial complex have increased, the issue of relocating citizens from dilapidated housing has begun to be systematically addressed, and construction plans are to “step over” 1 million square meters. meters (an increase in housing construction was noted in 36 out of 48 municipalities).

The first question was asked by the owner of the Rus agricultural holding, Alexander Repin, who asked the governor about investment projects aimed at creating high-tech industries and attracting additional taxes to the regional budget. “Production volumes are growing, but there is no growth in income,” the governor noted, explaining that “it is not possible to replace the so-called lost income.” “This year our budget suffered several such blows, the SanInBev brewing company left, and we lost 2 billion in taxes, and a number of taxpayers took away more than 3 billion.” Nevertheless, according to the head of the Kama region, a number of serious projects are being implemented in the region at the Perm Instrument-Making Company, LUKOIL-Perm LLC, and Krono.

The executive director of the Theatre, Anatoly Pichkalev, drew attention to the unresolved problems with the financing of cultural institutions. “Your orders are not being implemented: additional funding has been found, but the Ministry of Culture has still not allocated these 15 million rubles to us. A tender was passed to carry out work on the reconstruction of the stage and the theater building, but a schedule for the work and financing of the facility was not signed. It’s just some kind of blank wall,” the top manager complained, proposing to allocate funding for regional theaters as a separate line in the regional budget. “The federal budget has a separate line for funding the Bolshoi and Maly Mariinsky Theaters,” explained Mr. Pichkalev.

His Kudymkar colleague Anatoly Chetin spoke about the ongoing reconstruction of the Komi-Permyak Drama Theater, “although the contractor came to the site adequately,” but there are problems with the design and estimate documentation, which for some reason did not include work on laying an Internet network in new theater, Rostelecom representatives valued them at 500 thousand rubles. “And they again force me to open the season on November 1, but it is unrealistic to finish all the work in the theater by this time,” Mr. Çetin complained. Viktor Basargin reassured theatergoers by saying that at the Kudymkar theater “no one will step on the same rake a second time” and the season will open when all the work is completed. “And we will help with the Internet, perhaps Rostelecom itself will do it at its own expense. We will not allocate theaters as a separate budget line. And the fact that the receipt of funds is delayed, you understand that the Ministry of Culture needs to review all the standards,” the governor noted.

During the meeting, he was asked questions about improving patriotic education, the need to work more actively with non-profit organizations, and the seizure of unused agricultural land. But the most important question came at the end. The head of the Dedmorozim public fund, Dmitry Zhebelev, asked the head of the Kama region about the reform of local self-government: the risks of introducing the institution of city managers in all municipalities and delegating deputies and heads of settlements to zem assemblies.

“A couple of months ago, we met with the heads and said that a lot depends not so much on how we elect, but on why and for what. Everything depends, first of all, on the powers vested in one or another government agency. This is the answer to whether the government at the local level is capable or not. Today, given the financial situation, a lot of powers will be transferred to the level of districts and city districts. Therefore, we say that we practically do not touch the system of power at this level. Chapters have the right to a transition period during which they can make changes to the charter. We received this proposal from the Public Chamber,” said Viktor Basargin. He explained the need to introduce the position of city manager by the fact that many functions related to city management have migrated to the district level. “They need a business specialist there. But both a politician and a business executive are not always combined in one person. We have often been burned when a person comes on the wave of populism, and tomorrow there is a complete failure in economic activity. And behind him are tens of thousands of people who are waiting for the heating season. Therefore, we considered that it would be more correct to make such changes,” the governor emphasized.

The governor's statement came on the eve of the Legislative Assembly's consideration of five local government reform projects. Four of them, introduced by parties and deputies, provide for the preservation of direct elections of mayors of cities and districts. Only one, supported by the governor, provides for the conservation of the current management model in Perm: the mayor leads the Duma, the city manager leads the administration. Consideration of the laws in the Legislative Assembly will take place next week; the governor’s project has already been supported by the largest faction, United Russia. A source in the Communist Party faction yesterday expressed confidence that this draft will be adopted next Thursday in the first reading.

Dmitry Nikitin

What did you want about the city?