Municipalities are still planning mass hiring, while they have increasing debts for taxes and employee contributions.

Municipalities in Montenegro are still planning mass employment, even though they have increasing debts, especially for taxes and employee contributions.

According to research by the Institute Alternative, as many as 22 municipalities plan to hire over 1.300 new employees.

In some smaller municipalities, the number of new employees almost reaches the number of existing ones.

A total of 22 Montenegrin municipalities have expressed the need to employ as many as 1.355 new workers in their personnel plans for the current year, almost a quarter of whom, 338, are on fixed-term contracts, according to research conducted by the non-governmental organization (NGO) Institute Alternative.

"Three municipalities did not submit data, these are Plav, Petnjica and what could potentially change the total figure when it comes to the numbers we presented in the research, the Municipality of Budva. As many as 16 out of the 22 municipalities observed plan to employ more than 30% of the current number of employees," pointed out Jelena Radulović from the NGO Institute Alternative.

The greatest need is in Podgorica, where 141 people are planned to be employed. Ulcinj follows with 123, Herceg Novi - 115, and Kolašin, which plans to hire 105 new workers. The smallest municipalities planned the least number of employments.

"But when we talk about the percentage of employees, Gusinje is in the lead, with 94%, so the number of current employees is 67, and they plan to hire another 63. There is also Zeta, which plans to hire 57 employees, out of 76 currently employed, which is a share of almost 75%. The municipality of Šavnik plans to hire 27 employees compared to the 39 already employed," said Radulović.

And while they continue to overemploy, municipalities are also accumulating ever-increasing debts, as Finance Minister Novica Vuković has repeatedly pointed out. Municipal tax debt at the end of last year was over 122 million euros.

"Of all local governments, Cetinje, Berane, Bijelo Polje, Nikšić, Pljevlja, Rožaje and Ulcinj owe the most. We note that the total tax debt also includes the debt of public institutions and companies founded by the local government unit. When we talk about optimizing local government, it is certainly problematic," said Radulović.

Also, concludes Radulović, the personnel plans of local governments do not include details about employment in public institutions and local enterprises, which means that the scope of planned employment is even greater.