Municipalities, their companies and institutions for taxes and contributions owe 52,3 million, the surplus of workers is a taboo topic

Municipalities, their public companies and institutions owe a total of 52,3 million euros for taxes and contributions at the end of April, the Tax Administration informed "Vijesta".

At the end of last year, municipalities had unpaid obligations in the amount of 73 million euros on other grounds as well.

Neither the Ministry of Finance, nor previously the Ministry of Public Administration, were willing to answer questions about the large number of redundant employees in local public administration, whose salary amounts are suffocating local budgets and municipal enterprises and institutions.

At the proposal of the Ministry of Finance, the government adopted a conclusion at the end of March, by which it obliged the Tax Administration to individually conclude a protocol on the settlement of obligations with all municipalities that have current tax debt, which will contain a dynamic plan and debt repayment deadlines based on this. Based on the same conclusions, the Tax Administration should conclude individual agreements on protocol, dynamics and tax debt repayment terms with each municipal enterprise and institution that has outstanding obligations.

When asked by "Vijesti" with how many municipalities, companies and institutions a protocol on settlement of obligations was agreed upon and how the debts will be paid, the Tax Administration said that these meetings are still ongoing.

"The Tax Administration held meetings with certain municipalities regarding the accumulated tax debt, after the meetings with all municipalities with the line ministry, they will work on a joint solution and define the dynamics of settlement of obligations," stated the Tax Administration.

When asked by "Vijesti" which municipalities, companies and institutions owe the most in taxes, they mentioned the names, but not the amounts of the debt.

"The biggest debtors are the municipalities: Cetinje, Rožaje, Berane, Bijelo Polje and Ulcinj. As for the largest debtors of local self-government companies, the following stand out: 'Komunalno Cetinje', 'Komunalno svetsto Ulcinj', 'Komunalno Berane', 'Komunalno - Lim Bijelo Polje' and 'Waterworks and sewerage Ulcinj'. The biggest debtors of public institutions: Rožaje Culture Center, Berane Sports Center, Berane Radio, Njegoš Cetinje Library and Berane Polimski Museum", stated the Tax Administration.

When asked how payment of these obligations is made possible - by delay, payment in installments, payment from future payments from the Equalization Fund, in some other way, or a combination of these measures, the Tax Administration stated that municipalities and their companies and institutions have so far through three reprograms provided opportunities for more favorable repayment of tax debts.

With the reprogram from 2015, municipalities, companies and institutions were enabled to conclude contracts on deferred payment until 2035, for tax claims based on taxes and contributions from and on personal income.

Similar reprograms followed in 2017 and 2022, however, most debtors did not get back on their feet.

At the end of last year, 15.689 workers were employed in the administrations of local governments, their enterprises and institutions.

According to the Law on Local Self-Government Financing, municipalities are required to report to the Ministry of Finance on the total receipts and expenditures, and expenditures by consumer units per month within 15 days from the end of the month for which the report is submitted.

When asked by "Vijesti" how much money is needed to pay wages to 15.689 employees, the Ministry of Finance said that according to the reports of all local self-government units on total spending in 2023, there is information that the cost for 5.478 employees is only in municipal administrations for the payment of gross wages and contributions at the expense of the employer amounted to 72,11 million euros.

"Vijesti" asked whether the number of 15.689 employees in the public administration at the local level, according to the criteria of the Ministry of Finance, is adequate and whether they will take any measures to reduce the number of employees in local administrations, however, from this department, they are looking for answers to referred these questions to the Ministry of Public Administration.

"Vijesti" previously announced that the number of employees in public administration at the state and local level at the end of last year was 62,5 thousand and that it was 14,4 thousand more than the required number from the optimization plan from 2018, which was should be implemented in 2020.

At the local level, the optimal number of employees should have been 10,9 thousand, including municipal administrations, its enterprises and institutions, but it is now almost five thousand more.

The Ministry of Public Administration now states that the focus will not be on reducing the number of employees but on increasing their knowledge and skills.

Bearing in mind that past experience has shown that the focus of this process should not be exclusively on reducing the number of employees, the establishment of optimal administration is aimed at through better personnel planning and connection with the budget program, as well as improving the knowledge, skills and competencies of employees at the central and at the local level, with the aim of creating professional staff who will work on improving the efficiency of providing quality public administration services", the Ministry stated when asked by "Vijesti" whether they think there is a surplus of employees in the public administration and how they plan to rationalize that number.

Outstanding liabilities on several grounds 73 million

According to the data submitted by the municipalities to the Ministry of Finance, the total outstanding obligations of local self-government (municipal budgets) at the end of last year amounted to EUR 73,12 million.

"In the structure of outstanding obligations, the largest share is outstanding obligations for loans and credits and based on debt repayment, which mostly relate to outstanding obligations to the state based on transfer loans. A significant part of outstanding obligations refers to unpaid obligations based on taxes and contributions to the wages of employees", stated the Ministry of Finance.

When asked by "Vijesti" what they will do regarding the outstanding obligations of local governments, the department stated that at their proposal, the Government at the end of March of this year considered the Information on the state of public finances at the local level at the end of last year and that it adopted three binding steps.

The first step is for the Tax Administration to sign protocols on their settlement with municipalities that have debt for taxes and contributions, then to sign such agreements with municipal companies and institutions that have debts, while the third step is for the Ministry of Finance to individually conclude protocols on debts with all municipalities. on the basis of the so-called transfer loans they have according to the state budget.

According to these data, the biggest debtor is Budva with 17,6 million outstanding obligations, followed by Bar with 10,9, Herceg Novi with 9,8, Ulcinj with 8,5, Cetinje with obligations of 7,9 million...

Three municipalities did not have these debts at the end of last year - Žabljak, Tuzi and Zeta.