Government to provide towns and municipalities with €50 million

The government will provide €50 million to towns and municipalities within 14 days, claimed Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) at a press conference during a working congress of the Investment Ministry in Brezno on Tuesday, adding that at the same time regional governments will have €20 million of their debts written off.

According to Fico, the €50 million will be distributed according to a scheme prepared by the Association of Slovak Towns and Villages (ZMOS). The Premier said that he expects the money to be distributed in proportion to the population sizes of individual towns and cities.

As for the forgiven €20 million worth of loans, Fico said that each of the eight regions will be forgiven €2.5 million.

At the same time, the premier declared that the Government is ready to help next year as well, but ZMOS must come up with the concept of municipal reform.

The coalition proposal to complete the financing of local and regional authorities comes too late and is inadequate, representatives of opposition PS declared in response to the announced financial aid.

MP Marek Lackovic (PS) warned that the aid scheme won't stop the worsening in the quality of life for inhabitants of towns and villages, and won't address this year's cut in the local and regional authorities' income. "The motion doesn't cover cuts in the proceeds from the income tax collection over the first nine months of this year. The local authorities lost €88 million, whereas the government is promising them only €70 million," stated Lackovic, adding that the scheme also fails to address the situation in the next year.

If implemented, the upshot of the government-sponsored proposal will be that small villages might fall below their critical threshold. "And those don't have any further means of saving money," said Lackovic.

According to opposition KDH the aid is insufficient. "Local authorities will lack about €100 million this year," warned KDH, adding that the expanding duties for the local and regional authorities without adequate financial backing will only exacerbate the situation.

"The local and regional authorities cannot function without systemic measures because not only do they lack finances for ordinary operations and services, they cannot even plan their activities or their development, which can come to a complete standstill as a result," added KDH, which urged the government to restore the financing to appropriate levels and make measures to decentralise the local authorities.

Source: TASR