It is unknown when Bar will officially give up the title of the only coastal city in Montenegro where parking is not charged, even after the local assembly members adopted the work plan of "Parking Service" for this year. The company has no profit, salaries are the main costs, it is stuck in cooperation, and the Municipality of Bar and "Parking Service" do not want to comment on each other - colleagues from the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS).
"Parking Service" Bar was founded by the Municipal Assembly at the end of 2023, and it was officially registered in August 2024, while the then councilor was appointed as its director. Nikica Purlija from DPS, at the end of October that year.
One of the burning questions in the city under Rumija is being answered in the same way that the company is developing – slowly. A year after Purlija was appointed, the prices of parking in that city were announced to the people of Baranja, which caused dissatisfaction among citizens and the local opposition.
The fact that "Parking Service" is a "hot potato" in the hands of the ruling coalition is evidenced by the fact that those who live and work in Bar still do not know when the parking fees will start, because neither party has an answer to that question, and it is an election year.
The same questions and views were shared by opposition councilors at last week's Municipal Assembly session, during which they discussed the Program for Performing Utility Services for 2026 "Parking Service".
Purlija then told the councilors that the company could not begin concrete work until the basic conditions were created in the form of technology, employees, vehicles, and adequate offices, which, as she repeatedly emphasized, was within the jurisdiction of the Municipality of Bar, which founded the company.
Eight thousand euros per month
With 95 thousand euros, which is what the municipality gives them annually, or about eight thousand euros per month, she, as the only employee in that company, cannot meet the minimum criteria for starting billing and work, nor can she deal with matters that are the responsibility of the local government.
"Human resources and technical equipment are something that is necessary. Funds and equipment are a condition for performing municipal services and we expect that in the coming period we will fulfill and begin operational work," she said at the time, explaining that the funds for 2026 were planned with the assumption that the Municipality of Bar had fulfilled all its obligations.
The Municipality of Bar, whose budget for 2026 is over 65 million euros, will pay 95 thousand euros to this company this year, as in the previous one.
The total costs of this company in 2024, for the period from the end of August to the last day of December, amounted to 25.611 euros. Of this, almost half - 10.440 euros - went to the director's net salary.
3.589 euros were spent on taxes and contributions on earnings. Remuneration for members of the Board of Directors cost the company slightly less, 6.574 euros in 2024. Taxes and contributions for that body cost 1.002 euros. “Parking Servis”’s expenses for 2025 will be shown in the Annual Report, with the financial report for the previous year, which should soon be before the councilors.
The data presented in the document shows that this company plans to generate revenues of 915.000 euros this year, of which they estimate that their own revenues will amount to 750.000 euros, that they will carry over 70 thousand euros from the previous year, 2025, and that the Municipality of Bar will pay them another 95.000 euros.
However, in order to achieve the planned traffic flow, just some of what Purlija expects from the Municipality of Bar is the completion of marking the parking lot in Bar with horizontal and vertical signage, procurement of equipment, a spider vehicle, employment of labor...
Both without comment
Opposition councilors have made a series of criticisms, claiming that Purlija has a "dream job", that it is clear that something is not right between the "Parking Service" and the Municipality of Bar, so Radomir Novaković (Biram Bar) directly asked "who is stopping her from working", to which she did not give a specific answer.
Novaković also pointed out the fact that no one from Purlija's party, DPS, came forward to support her or participate in the discussion, although they raised their hands and adopted the program for this year with 19 votes from the ruling majority.
When asked by the opposition why the company did not install ramps in the arranged parking lots and thus generate income to fully launch the business, Purlija replied that "it cannot put a ramp where it wants", although they had sent a similar initiative to the Municipality when drafting the documents on parking lots, but that the decision was made by the Mayor.
Purlija did not want to comment on the work and attitude of the local administration towards this company for "Vijesti", while the Municipality of Bar did not respond to the newspaper's questions, including how the Municipality of Bar will enable the essential start of work of this company, when it will start, with which activities exactly, and whether their implementation and procurement will be paid for from the budget of the Municipality of Bar, since, as the director claims, the company does not have the funds for that...
Instead of responding, Raičević's administration unofficially told the newspaper that they "will no longer comment on the work of 'Parking Service'."
Shifting responsibility
It is also indicative that the Secretariat for Communal Affairs, headed by Dejan Škerović (DPS), did not propose this year's work plan for "Parking Service" to the assembly.
Instead, Škerović stated that the Proposal for the Work Program states that it is necessary to provide minimum conditions and/or financial resources from the budget of the Municipality of Bar for technical, personnel and spatial equipment, in order to perform the entrusted communal activities in 2026, given that they were not fully provided in 2025.
"At this point, we would like to point out that this body, as responsible for the technical regulation of traffic on municipal and uncategorized roads, is currently carrying out activities to install horizontal and vertical signage in public parking lots, which is one of the basic prerequisites for the start of the company's activities," the Secretary for Public Utilities and Transport wrote in his opinion on Purlija's plan.
He added that an estimate of the company's revenues and expenses was made, although the methodology on which it was made was not presented, while it was stated that revenues were projected under the assumption that all conditions in accordance with applicable regulations for performing utility services have been met and work has begun.
"It is an indisputable fact that performing the municipal activity of managing and maintaining public parking lots requires technical, spatial and personnel equipment, which requires significant financial resources. However, we are of the opinion that the start of the operation of the company, i.e. performing the municipal activity, cannot be based solely on providing funds from the founder, but that the company, especially considering the fact that it was founded at the end of 2023, must have a clear vision of generating its own revenues, and not only revenues from the founder," states the opinion of the Secretariat, which "Vijesti" has access to.
They concluded that the company's work plan should have been based on an analysis of the possibility of a phased start of operations, i.e. operation with minimal technical and personnel capacities, and that, depending on the realization of revenues generated from parking fees, a gradual increase in the level of technical equipment, i.e. modernization of the system, as well as spatial and personnel capacities, should be carried out.
In response to comments and suggestions made by opposition councilors regarding the illogicality and aggravating circumstances in the company's operations, Purlija reminded them that these documents - the Study on General and Special Parking Lots and the Decision on Public Parking Lots - were prepared by the Secretariat for Communal Affairs and Traffic.
Unconditioned offices
The Work Program also states that it is important to note that the business premises for the needs of LLC "Parking servis Bar", which was assigned to the Company under the Agreement on the Assignment of Business Premises, which refers to a space consisting of three rooms, with a total area of 75 square meters, is not adequate for their business.
This space was provided for free use for a period of five years, and "Parking Servis" claims that "it does not meet the basic requirements of the Company when the Company begins operations, and it is necessary to plan and resolve this issue."
At the Municipal Assembly session, responding to questions from the opposition, Purlija said that her office space is nine square meters and that the space provided to them is not enough for the needs of all the workers who must be employed when the company starts operating.
She also outlined a number of "pain points" regarding the offices they received from the Municipality of Bar - "At first, we didn't even get the premises, but we waited for their reconstruction, which took a while. We got a space without low-voltage electricity, so as the director, I also dealt with that, so that I could function. I didn't get a single chair to sit on. The first grant was in the amount of 1.200 euros, so I had to gradually equip it."
She also pointed out that there are acts of the Government of Montenegro that determine what the technical and personnel requirements are, or rather the minimum requirements for performing utility services, which, among other things, relate to space, personnel, and equipment.
It is not known when the contract will be signed.
The fact that there is a problem on the way from this company to the Municipality of Bar is also shown by the fact that to date they have not signed a contract on entrusting the performance of communal services, and they did not want to tell "Vijesti" when they will do so.
"Parking Service" will also have to sign an agreement with the Municipal Police of the Municipality of Bar, which will control parking lots, which is also not yet on the agenda, and Purlija said at the Municipal Assembly session that she hopes to "agree future cooperation" with that service.
The signing of the contract is another of the unanswered questions of the "Vijesti" editorial team in the Bar municipality's email.
"It is also necessary to conclude an Agreement on the entrustment of the performance of communal services, which had not been concluded by the date of determination of the Program for 2026. Namely, since the key acts necessary for the operation and performance of communal services, maintenance of parking spaces, or management of public parking lots, were not adopted for more than 12 (from the date of registration), or 18 months from the establishment of the Company (Elaborat), and the reasons for the standstill in the adoption and delay in the adoption of acts are beyond the operational control of the latter, they nevertheless directly affect the dynamics and quality of the services they are supposed to provide," states the Work Program of "Parking Service".
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