"Čistoća" from Podgorica increased the prices of services by up to 50 percent, the increased bills have already reached the citizens and the economy, the utility company justified the price increase by investing in the modernization of the utility infrastructure, the purchase of vehicles and equipment...
The interlocutor of "Vijesti", however, claims that during the past years, not only the number of direct performers of the work - maintenance and garbage collection workers has increased, and that the reason for the increase in the price of services is the "unprofessional, irrational and illegal behavior of the management" of that city company.
"From Čistoća, they state that the key reason for the price increase is that there has been no change since 2007, that in the meantime the costs of doing business have grown significantly, and that the company's revenues have not grown at all or have not grown significantly. However, 'Cistoća' operated positively until 2019, from the Plan for 2020 it can be seen that the same trend is planned in the year when the decision was made to increase the price of services, so the answer to the increase in prices is partly in the costs of salaries, salary benefits and other personal expenses that increased by over 2013 thousand euros from 2019 to 900", former employee Denis Hot told "Vijesta", referring to the data published in the annual programs and reports on the work of that company.
According to the same data, expenditures for "other benefits" - benefits to members of the board of directors, jubilee awards, benefits based on severance pay, mutual termination of contracts, assistance to employees... he adds, increased by more than 3,5 times - from 146 thousand to 517 thousand.
The bills for "Cleaning" services show a fixed and variable part. Fixed, as explained by that company, are the costs of ongoing maintenance of communal infrastructure and associated equipment, loan repayment costs, and other justified costs (overhead, depreciation, insurance).
The variable part of the price consists of the costs of hiring the necessary workforce, the costs of consumed electricity, the procurement of consumables, and other justified costs incurred in the provision of services.
In 2021, as stated in the plans, it is planned to spend 5.333.554 euros on employee salaries. On October 31 last year, 493 executors were employed in "Čistoća".
Hot, however, it is considered problematic that in the past two years, the number of people employed through mediation agencies has increased in that utility company.
"These are mainly irrational employments through an agency for (temporary) assignment of employees, which charges an additional six percent of the total salary for this service," Hot said, adding that such employment has been taking place since 2019, when director named Andrija Čađenović.
According to him, ten people were employed in "Čistoća" through the agency until 2019, while at the end of that year, the number increased six times.
"From March 2019 to October 2020, at least 700 euros were spent on hiring employees through the agency, and a commission of as much as 40 euros was paid to the agency for those services," claims Hot.
According to the "Cleanliness" Work Program for 2020, 478 executors are employed in that company. It is also stated that the number of employees provided for by the systematization has not been filled because on July 1, 2018, the measures from the Public Administration Optimization Plan came into force, which limited employment for some time. It also says that the Company "will respect the foreseen measures in everything, except for the part of employment of direct executors in the work of municipal waste removal and public hygiene maintenance", and that "the Company is forced to publish public advertisements to fill vacant positions in this way, which will not give an increase of newly employed executors".
"They state that they will respect the measures from the Optimization Plan and that they will employ only direct executors in the work of municipal waste removal and public hygiene maintenance, and on October 31, 10, they had engaged over 2019 through the agency, and the following day, November 40, 1.11.2019. twenty more employees. So, on that day, a total of about 60 were 'hidden' behind the agency. According to the Work Program for 2021, in this year it is planned to amend the Rulebook on the organization and systematization of workplaces, and the management of "Čistoća" cannot determine the number of executors it needs for the functioning of the Company, because so far they have made one amendment to the Rulebook and the new Ordinance, and now they need to amend the new one, although according to it, 578 jobs are foreseen, and on 31 October 10, only 2020 were filled. On the same day, although they claim to comply with all legal measures, the management they 'hid' over 493 employees behind the agency", says Hot and adds that from the day the parliamentary elections were announced on June 120 to mid-September last year, over 20 executors were employed through the agency, and only from September 50 to 1, as he claims , over 15 executors.
According to the data published in the work program "Cleanliness" from 2014 to 2020, the number of direct workers did not increase compared to 2013, but the number of employees in the administration increased. Thus, three people were employed in the director's office in 2013, eight in 2019, and six in 2020.
In the technical-operational sector, the number of employees compared to 2013 was always lower than then. In 2013, there were 352 employees in that sector, in 2019, 326, while in 2020, 346 people were employed in that sector.
"Based on the available documentation - work plans and programs, it is clear that the number of direct work executors did not increase compared to 2013, but only the number of employees in the administration increased. At the same time, the amount of waste in 2019 compared to 2013 increased by almost nine thousand tons, i.e. by 14,5 percent," says Hot.
According to the officially available documentation of "Cleanliness", the number of users in 2019 compared to 2013 increased by over 13 thousand. Hot, however, states that according to the calculation of that utility company, when the price of services is increased, it turns out that the number of users has increased by over 60 thousand.
"It turns out that 'Cistoća' increased the number of service users by more than 100 percent in just six months," he claims.
The cost price of "Cleaning" services is calculated as the ratio of the estimated annual waste management costs (4.488.750 euros) and the total area covered by the treatment (99.750) during 12 months. Thus, in "Čistoća" they arrive at a price of 0,045 per square meter.
"In other words, a price increase of exactly 50 percent, which is extremely strange," says Hot.
He sent "Čistoća" several requests for free access to information, among other things, regarding the number of employees, but he never received an answer.
"Even though the Agency for the Protection of Personal Data and Free Access to Information accepted my complaints and asked 'Cistoća' to act in accordance with the Law," he told "Vijesta".
Several criminal charges were filed against the management of "Čistoća" due to suspicions of abuse of official position.
See more:
Download the app and follow the news
FOLLOW US ON
