Many mayors of communes in the country who participated, this week, in the meeting with Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, returned disappointed to the rural communities they shepherd. Although they reproached the Chief Executive that “the Romanian village is poor” through the measures regarding the restructuring of local administrations and the increase of taxeseDili I don’t think their views will matter.
According to eBihoreanul, four mayors from Bihor, the county where Ilie Bolojan made his political career, also participated in the General Assembly of the Association of Romanian Municipalities (ACoR), held in Bucharest and marked by a tense meeting with the prime minister.
Some of the mayors reported with bitter humor that the trip, on which they spent the money of the villagers (the trip being covered by the budgets of the town halls), did not bring them the expected results.
The mayor of Dobrești commune, Florin Copos (PNL), confessed that he stayed in Bucharest for only one day, unlike most of the mayors in the country, who arrived on Sunday and stayed at a five-star hotel.
“I bought my plane ticket, 2,000 lei, with my own money. The rest will be calculated. I went for the people, to ask for a 50% reduction in fees and taxes.”
The mayor of Vascău, Sebastian Bursașiu (PSD), said that he left on Sunday evening and returned on Wednesday. He used the City Hall car, and the trip cost about 600 lei. The accommodation was between 1,800 and 2,000 lei, an amount that will be settled from the local budget.
“My town doesn’t have the money to stay at the Marriott”
The mayor of Lunca commune, Dorin Boca (PSD), went in his personal car, citing the fear of airplanes. He stayed two nights in Bucharest, at a hotel cheaper than the Marriott, where many of the participants were staying.
“But I didn’t stay at the Marriott, because my commune doesn’t have the money to stay at the Marriott. When they have enough money, I’ll afford the Hilton”Boca also said.
The accommodation cost 810 lei per night, a total of 1,600 lei, money that will be settled by the City Hall, said the mayor.
“I went an ox and came back a cow”
Asked what problems he managed to solve, Boca replied self-deprecatingly: “I went ox and came back cow”.
The mayor explained that he tried to get clarifications regarding a 6.5 million lei sewage project, financed through the Program Angel Saligny”, but blocked due to lack of funds.
“I haven’t solved anything. If the higher ups want it, it’s resolved. If not, nothing is solved”said the mayor.
The mayor of Cristior commune, Fănel Tulvan (PNL), could not be contacted.
Dissatisfaction also among the Vaslui mayors
From Vaslui, eight mayors participated in the meeting with the prime minister, the delegation being led by Neculai Moraru, the mayor of Fălciu commune and the president of the ACOR county branch, according to Vremea noua e
The local elected officials confess that they went to the capital with the hope that the prime minister will abandon some of the contested measures, but the discussions did not change the Government’s direction.
“I don’t think anything will change,” concluded Moraru, who noted that austerity seems to target only local administration: “It is disturbing that they only want to walk here and not in the central administration”.
Carmen Bâlbîe, the mayor of Epureni commune, summed up the atmosphere: “We went with high hopes and came back disappointed“.
The mayor’s office explained that there will be no reductions in tax rates and no funding for new projects.
“We will only go with what we have started”, Carmen Bâlbîe also said,
Relu Brașoveanu, the mayor of the Bălteni commune in Vaslui, criticized the idea of a single specialist serving several town halls.
“I don’t see how you can hire an architect for 4,000 lei and have him cover several communes”said the mayor.
In Pochidia, where the City Hall operates with only nine employees, the mayor Marius Ciocan says that he has nowhere to reduce staff: “We have nothing to do other than to reduce expenses, because we cannot fire any more staff”.
The only good news: local budgets may remain at last year’s level
Although the reforms will go ahead, the mayors received a partial guarantee: budget transfers to UATs will not decrease compared to last year. “That would be the only good news,” said Carmen Bâlbîe, who also mentioned a possible measure still under discussion: the taking over of co-financing for investment projects by the Ministry of Development.
For many city officials, the conclusion remains the same:
“I talked for nothing there… I don’t think anything will change”said Brașoveanu.
Bolojan: “It’s only a matter of time until there is a reform of the administration”
We remind you that, at the meeting with the mayors of the communes, the prime minister sent a firm message, stating that the pressure for administrative reorganization will increase in the coming years.
“It’s only a matter of time, until 2028,” said the head of the Executive, warning that, in the absence of efficiency, it will reach “reduction in the number of communes, mergers and so on”.
He also pointed out the imbalance between local income and salary expenditure: “In Romania, revenues from local taxes represent a quarter of salary expensesThe legislative package prepared by the Government includes the reduction of staff where the organizational charts exceed the established limits.
Dissatisfaction with the Government’s measures
The ACoR assembly was the scene of harsh criticism of Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan. The first vice-president of the Association, Mariana Gâju (PSD), the mayoress of the Cumpăna commune, reproached him that the reform of the local administration “started wrong” and that the statements regarding the tax increase by the mayors “bury everyone”.
In parallel with the meeting, on Tuesday there was a warning strike in the municipal town halls, organized by the Union of Romanian Municipalities (SCOR). The employees are protesting against the single salary scale for town halls with insufficient own income and against the possibility of hiring part-time staff. In Bihor, employees from 39 town halls participated in the protest.
