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A hearing was held in the Committee on Economy, Employment and Finance with local government associations and municipal elected officials on next year's draft budget.
During the hearing, local government representatives raised concerns about the repayment of debts inherited from territorial reform and the increase in funds for emergencies.
The Mayor of Saranda, Oltion Çaçi, noted that municipalities remain dependent on central transfers and called for increased funds for emergencies. He also suggested that the building tax be coordinated with the State Cadastre Agency to improve the recording and collection of this tax, noting that many municipalities do not have sufficient capacity to administer it.
The Mayor of Pogradec, Ilir Xhakolli, informed that the municipality has inherited debts from the territorial reform, in the amount of 6 million euros, after the repayment of the debt the value of 2.5 million euros remained. He emphasized that the court decisions on the debts create a heavy burden on the municipality's budget, and requested support from the commission for granting grants to facilitate the repayment of debts for the execution of payments from court decisions. He also noted that the municipality's income has doubled, but this is not enough to cover the inherited debts, proposing that they be considered public debt and not the municipality's.
The Mayor of Mirdita spoke about the need to increase revenues through the sharing of mining royalties. Currently, the law provides that municipalities benefit from 5% of the 20% of mining royalties that benefit the state budget.
The executive director of the Institute of Municipalities of Albania, Agron Haxhimali, requested a doubling of the budget for the sectors of forest and pasture administration, rural roads, and irrigation and drainage.
"There are 3 sectors that raise coherent issues that can be solved by doubling the budget for forest and pasture management with a budget of 6 million euros. And this budget goes mostly to administrative costs. If forests are not healthy, they are a consequence of floods and fires."
The budget for rural roads is 7 million euros, while the situation remains alarming. It is necessary to double the budget for rural roads, in order to develop these areas.
Irrigation and drainage historically remains a weak link in local government, with a lack of funds. The budget is 11 million euros and this is impossible for the 61 municipalities in the country.
Haxhimali also emphasized that 47 billion lek of budget funds from transfers to local governments is an increased figure compared to other years, but the problem still remains the way money is managed, where 20% of it is for investments and 80% for operating costs. / Taken from Monitor.al
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