The semi-annual report on the total revenues and expenditures of the budget of the Municipality of Kolašin for the first six months of this year is, according to the councilors of the ruling coalition, a reason for satisfaction. According to the opinion of the majority of the opposition, that document proves that "the budget continues to serve as a means for the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), at any cost, to remain in power."
As government representatives claimed at today's session of the Municipal Assembly, the report on the half-yearly implementation of the budget is an indicator that they worked well and in accordance with the law.
According to the Secretary for Finance Dragan Bualtović, revenues in the first half of the year were 52 percent, compared to the annual plan. Expenditure execution is 32 percent.
As the president of the SO Milan Đukić said, the report is an indicator of the progress of the local government, as well as concern for the citizens.
"We showed that we take care of the citizens. We realized the most executions in the capital budget, sports and culture. We will continue at the same pace and use legal financial opportunities. We will also work on the employment of young people and the overall improvement of the local community", said Đukić.
And the President of the Municipality, Milosav Bulatović, is satisfied with his work and that of his associates. He announced numerous projects, which, allegedly, should be implemented in the area of Kolašin in the coming period.
"We started the implementation of a large project of a wastewater treatment system and provided 70 percent of non-refundable financial support from IPA funds. We competed with the Public Works Administration for the reconstruction of the old elementary school building. Our plan is to do the heating of the city, the reconstruction of the Memorial Home, the arrangement of the business zone, a new building for the local administration, and our goal is to improve the sports infrastructure," he said.
Reminding that, based on the contract, 23 people were hired in the municipal administration, Democrat councilor Vladimir Martinović said that more than 8.700 euros had already been spent for this purpose, although 5.100 had been planned.
"You provided 14.000 for one-time social benefits, but you have already spent 48 percent. "Wherever DPS is in power, the principle is the same - first you make social cases out of citizens, and then you distribute one-time social benefits," he said.
Martinović also assessed that the Kolašin government would not have anything to brag about if it were not for the funds provided by the state level and state projects.
Member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Bojan Zeković believes that the government has no reason to be satisfied, especially due to the fact that the realization of the capital budget is less than two percent.
Aleksandar Dožić from the Democratic Front believes that the government, considering how much support it had from the state, money and the number of employees in the municipal administration, did not do as much as it should have done. He assessed the report on the implementation of the budget as "a typical document, which does not reflect possibilities and creativity".
The social housing program, according to the opinion of the majority of councilors, is a "burning issue", but the government and the opposition had conflicting views on that document as well.
SDP councilor Željka Vuksanović claims that these days, empty apartments intended for this purpose are being moved into "on the word of the president". He also communicated unofficial information according to which one DPS councilor is among the newly moved in. The party did not respond to her insistence to confirm or deny the information.
Đukić informed the councilors that "the government takes a serious approach to the area of social housing" and promised transparency in the distribution of apartments to the poorest fellow citizens.
According to him, the development of floor plans is in progress, after which the conditions for distribution will be met.
During the discussion on the proposal of the Rules of Procedure of the SO, Martinović, considering that, in that document, fines for councilors were foreseen, he proposed the same rules in the event that the president of the local parliament violates the Rules of Procedure. He said that not a single Montenegrin SO has such provisions, but that, in the case of the Kolasin Parliament, they are necessary. He suggested that the President of the SO be fined half of his salary, if he violates Posovnik twice in one session.
In the continuation of the session of the Council of Ministers, the councilors will deal with proposals for decisions on the financing of sports, the method of separate collection of communal waste, and giving consent to the appointment of the director of the Cultural Center.
"Who leaves the residents of four villages without electricity?"
Councilors were extremely inspired in asking councilor questions and giving initiatives to the executive power. Vujisić requested the intervention of the President of the Municipality, from whom she expects help in solving the problem of frequent power interruptions in Mateševo, Skrbuša, Bar Kraljski and Vranještica. This, she said, is happening, among other things, because of the theft of oil and parts of transformer equipment.
Martinović asked to get answers to long-asked questions about the expenses for daily wages, fuel and official trips of employees in the local administration. He also expects Bulatović to answer him which promises DPS has fulfilled so far in Kolašin. Dožić requested that the local administration provide funds for setting up bus stops for schoolchildren. Zeković wants answers from the executive authority to the question of how many people have been engaged in the municipal administration from 2007 to the present day under a work contract and what their professions are. He asked how many employees were terminated during that period with severance pay.
"Squares, circles, hearts, future..."
In the controversy with DPS councilors about whether that party "buys voters", Martinović reminded that, in the last elections, they "voted for that party with circles and squares". "There was also heart", added the President of the Municipality.
Vuksanić said that "DPS is already preparing for the election race, before the start and will probably end it before the start". The head of the DPS committee Duško Šćepanović challenged the opposition to tell at least one example of vote buying in Kolašin. Other municipalities, he said, are not of interest to him.
The councilors, who spent almost six hours on just three items on the agenda, still found time to show, among other things, that they know the bibliography of Borisav Pekić. The titles of his works "The Years Eaten by Locusts" and "How to Appease a Vampire", as well as the script for the film "Time of Miracles" were used as metaphors for the effects of political dissidents.
There was also time for them to educate each other about verb tenses, so in the middle of the discussion about the implementation of the budget, they talked about the future and the past tense.
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