It is planned that more than 33.000 euros will be spent on hiring workers based on the work contract in the municipality of Kolašin this year, while more than 47.000 euros were given for this purpose in nine months last year, which is more than double the planned full-year amount.
According to what the President of the Municipality, Milosav Bulatović, said at the end of the summer, answering the councilor's questions, almost a third of those who then worked in the Kolašin local government were engaged "according to some kind of contract".
The local opposition repeatedly questioned these facts. According to SDP councilor Željka Vuksanović, the employment contract is not a labor law institute. She reminds that this type of engagement is not recognized by the laws on local self-government and civil servants. According to the Law on Local Self-Government, "a local official is a person who has established an employment relationship in a local government body, professional service and a special service for the performance of tasks that exercise the competence of the municipality established by the Constitution, law and other regulations".
"That law provides for the establishment of an employment relationship for employees as well. Because of this," Vuksanović says, "persons engaged under labor contracts cannot perform tasks under the jurisdiction of the local government." Everything they do from those jobs, she claims, is worthless. At the last session of the local parliament, the SDP councilor asked the executive authority for answers to the questions of how many persons and how many total contracts on the work were concluded during 2019 and how much funds were paid out on that basis.
The practice in the Kolašin Municipality, since the coalition of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), the Citizens' Group (GG) and the Social Democrats, has been to hire those whose employment they later requested and usually received the approval of the Ministry of Finance.
A few months ago, Bulatović refused to provide the Demokrat committee with information on the educational background and earnings of those engaged under the work contract, justifying himself by "protecting personal data".
"The amount provided for labor contracts clearly shows that the budget for this year is partisan, wasteful and pre-election. Ahead of parliamentary elections, labor contracts are used according to the 'carrot and stick' system. DPS, GG and SD will hire a large number of those who work under a work contract, promising them permanent employment after the election. This has long been a well-known practice of the DPS and its coalition partners," claims Democratic councilor Vladimir Martinović.
He reminds that the parliamentary majority voted against the Democrats' amendment, which provided for free textbooks for all primary school students and an increase in allocations for the elderly. It is planned to spend 1,1 million euros for gross earnings with taxes and contributions for employees in local government bodies and services this year. That is about 150.000 euros more than last year. The reasons for this increase are, as stated in the budget decision, "the necessity of employing the missing number of executors in the positions of expert staff in almost all spending units".
"During 2020, it is planned to employ a certain number of workers in the positions of coordinators and advisors... The salaries of employees in the current budget are 31,86 percent. The number of employees currently employed in the Municipality is 73, while the expected number of executors according to the valid acts on internal organization and systematization of workplaces is 100," the budget decision reads.
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