By rebalancing the budget of Budva until the municipal accounts are unblocked

The Budva Secretariat for Finance, on the order of Nikola Divanović, who was appointed by the new councilor majority as the President of the Municipality, is preparing a rebalancing of the municipal budget in order to insert an item that the Municipality can borrow up to 30 million euros due to, as Divanović explained, "the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and the reduction in inflows ". "Vijesti" has access to Divanović's letter to the Secretariat for Finance.

It was unofficially confirmed to the "News" that the debt, which would be guaranteed by the Government, will be used to unblock the accounts of the Municipality after the Commercial Court, by order of the Ministry of Finance, blocked the accounts for the amount that was paid from the state budget to the German-Austrian company WTE at the end of last year /EVN based on the activated guarantee given by the state to the Municipality for a loan for the construction of a wastewater treatment plant in the capital of tourism.

A meeting

With the rebalancing of the state budget, the Government provided a guarantee to the Municipality of Budva in the amount of 29,2 million euros, without explaining the purpose for which this money will be spent.

On May 27, the Commercial Court passed a temporary measure prohibiting the Municipality of Budva from using the money from the account until it returns 29,3 million euros to the Government based on the guarantee. On June 4, the government approved a budget rebalancing proposal, in which it planned a guarantee for the municipality's debt, and at that moment the mayor of Budva was Marko Carević (DF).

The temporary measure was adopted a few days before the session of the local parliament, which was instigated by a new majority of councilors from the ranks of DPS, SD, Montenegrin and independent councilor Stevan Džaković, for the dismissal of Tsarević and the President of the Municipal Assembly, Krsto Radović. This made the whole situation politicized, despite explanations from the Government and the court that such decisions were not politically motivated. On Thursday, Divanović had a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Policy, Milutin Simović, and the Minister of Finance, Darko Radunović, at which, as announced after the meeting, they agreed "that urgent financial consolidation of the Municipality is a basic prerequisite for its further development and functioning".

"The government, confirming its principled approach to every local self-government, regardless of who is in power, expresses its readiness to issue a new guarantee for a financial arrangement that would mean the recovery of the public finances of the Municipality of Budva and the resolution of this problem," stated Simović's press release. attitude.

Simović assessed that "the need for the Government and the Municipality of Budva to overcome the inherited challenges as soon as possible is reinforced by the fact that this year's tourist season has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic all over the world.

"We are witnessing a difficult situation in tourism this summer around the world. That is why every day of the tourist season, every tourist, every tourist capacity and every job in tourism are precious to us. That is why we are making every effort to provide conditions for the smooth functioning of local self-government," said Simović. Budva is not the only municipality facing financial problems due to the current economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, but all municipalities are in the same situation.

Deadline for suggestions

The Secretariat for Finance announced that the process of creating a rebalance has begun, and invited everyone to submit suggestions by July 15, after which a decision will be made, which must then be held at a public hearing. In 2009, when the leadership consisted of DPS and SDP, the state gave the municipality a guarantee for the loan that the German-Austrian company WTE/EVN took for this project. Due to inflated costs, the case ended up with the Special Prosecutor's Office.

The municipality did not pay a single cent for years, but by pumping up the works, according to its own admission, three million euros were taken, which went to pay back the private debt of the head of the Budva organized crime group, Svetozar Marović. Two mayors of Budva, as well as the director of the German company Ginter Faust, admitted to fraud before the SDT, and then signed plea agreements.

The municipal leadership, led by Dragan Krapović (Democrats) and Tsarević, returned 14 million euros of obligations, but did not want to pay the Germans a single cent more until SDT investigated the complete corruption.

The consulting company "DR Duhovnik", hired by the Municipality, found that the Germans invested a total of 39 million euros in the project, from which three million euros of proven corruption were subtracted, so the final sum is 36 million euros that have been spent so far. The Germans did not accept the findings, and after the mixed commission with the mediation of the Government came to similar figures, the express activation of the state guarantee of 29,3 million euros followed, so that at the end of January of this year, WTE/EVN would leave the plant. The consortium also launched an international arbitration in Paris, demanding that it be paid 60 million euros.

Workers without salary, more than one million euros in their accounts

For days, Divanović has not answered the questions of "Vijesti" when the account of the municipality will be unblocked, because for the first time in the past three and a half years, it has happened that the workers have not received their salary, even though the money in the account is more than millions of euros, as much as he left after the violent dismissal Tsarević.

Before the blocking of municipal accounts, Tsarević ordered that all workers be paid their wages immediately, which was done, as well as the obligations to contractors for capital projects.