Municipality of Budva, or rather the president Nikola Jovanovic, has not yet signed the order to pay money from the city treasury to the municipal company Mediterranean Sports Center, which is why 50 employees have been waiting for 17 days to be paid their January salaries. All budget consumers, from cultural institutions to local media, services, and local administration, have received their January salaries regularly, except for MSC, which is managed by the director Milica Ratknic, otherwise the leader of the Budva committee of the Civic Movement URA.
The Municipality did not want to comment on why only MSC was not transferred money, considering that this was foreseen in the budget. "Vijesti" was told by several sources that "discipline" of the cadres of the Civic Movement URA began after the split in that party.
"Vijesti" announced last week that the split within the Budva board of GP URA, a party that has been part of the ruling coalition governing the municipality for a full year, will most likely lead to the replacement of personnel who have taken over the management of certain municipal enterprises according to party affiliation, and that Ratknić is the first to be targeted.
The breakaway part of the municipal board, 20 of them, who left the Civic Movement, made it clear that they support the current Mayor Nikola Jovanović, criticizing his former party colleagues for making the decision, without consulting the municipal board, that the GP URA councilor would not attend the December 31st session of the local parliament, whose agenda included the city budget, making them a bad move for the city and its citizens, and putting the party in an extremely bad situation.
Although this is a company that, after a long period of negative business, after the arrival of Milica Ratknić, is finally doing well and has taken significant steps towards obtaining a usage permit (bringing together all the private owners of the premises within the sports center) where they are in joint coordination with the chief city architect Jelena Lazić on the right track to finally solve this decades-old problem, however, to this day it is the only municipal company that has not paid salaries to its employees, which is, in all likelihood, a decision by the Mayor of the Municipality, Nikola Jovanović, without whose approval this transfer cannot be implemented.
As we unofficially learned, the MSC's supervisory Secretariat for Social Affairs processed everything regarding salaries and did it on time, as it has done many times before, and then forwarded it to the Secretariat for Finance for further action, which allegedly also did what was within its jurisdiction, and everything was submitted to Jovanović for signature.
A similar situation occurred in the Public Institution "Museums and Galleries of Budva", when the Municipality did not pay money for months, because the now dismissed director Lucija Đurašković she was not politically suitable.
MSC Director Milica Ratknić sent several letters to the president's office, as did the MSC union, demanding that the problem be resolved and employees receive their wages.
"Vijesti" unofficially learned that a municipal URA board meeting will be scheduled soon, at which these parties will decide whether to continue to support Jovanović's administration.
There has been speculation for the past month that the GP URA will disband, and that part of the municipal board will join Jovanović's political current. Statements by political representatives of the GP URA, from the leader Dritan Abazović to local officials, who criticize Jovanović's government for supporting the demolition of the "Slovenska plaža" tourist resort and approving the construction of apartments for the market in Miločerski Park, was just the last straw and led to the division of that party in Budva.
The vice president, secretary and founder, as well as 17 other members of the municipal committee of the Civic Movement URA, left the party the day before yesterday.
"The reasons for our decision are long-standing and serious, and primarily relate to the manner of decision-making, which is continuously implemented without consultation and consent of the Municipal Board, which directly violates basic intra-party principles," the statement submitted to "Vijesti" states.
"We consider the decision that the GP URA councilor in the Budva Municipal Assembly not attend the session and not vote for the 2026 budget to be politically incorrect and that this move has caused serious reputational damage to GP URA. Absence from the session at which such a budget is decided means giving up on the assumed political responsibility and moving away from the goals for which we received the support of voters. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case, but a continuation of a series of contradictory and inconsistent decisions that have led to a loss of trust in the way party politics is conducted at the local level," they point out and add:
"We believe that the budget represents the most important act of every local government and a key instrument that determines the development of the municipality, the implementation of infrastructure projects, support for citizens and the functioning of institutions. Specifically, the budget that was on the agenda is the investment budget, which precisely defines projects and measures that are fully aligned with the Platform for Saving Budva, a document on which we have together built the political trust of citizens and accepted it as such. By ignoring certain members of the Executive Board of the URA Budva, the problems deepened and left room for suspicion that this party is not following the agreed political platform and principles," they stated.
They added that they no longer want to be members of a party "that consciously leads to political isolation and decline," nor, as they said, have their name and personal integrity abused for the sake of individual ambitions.
The Budva URA announced that it wishes all the best to its former colleagues and all the best in their engagement in other parties.
They said in a statement that they remain committed to the general interests of the citizens of Budva, and that since their founding they have been fighting to preserve space "which is the most valuable resource we have, and which is becoming increasingly scarce."
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