Filenews 29 October 2024
By next January, the amendments of the Ministry of Interior to the legislation of the reform of Local Government will be submitted to Parliament. The Union of Municipalities asks for its own suggestions to be taken into account, its president and mayor of Larnaka, Andreas Vyras, said after the meeting of the executive committee of the Union of Municipalities with the President of the Republic, in the presence of the Minister of Interior, Constantinos Ioannou.
Mr. Vyras said that they discussed the course of the reform and the intended changes in legislation in order to achieve the goals for which they proceeded with the reform, such as the administrative and financial autonomy of the Municipalities, but also other issues such as the role of the Deputy Mayors and the goals for the next five years.
There was a discussion, Mr. Vyras said, on the amount of state sponsorship, noting that in the existing legislation there is provision for the transfer of powers to municipalities with the corresponding transfer of funds from the central state, in which there is a problem. "We did the reform to be more flexible and more efficient, but we have not really achieved the goal of administrative autonomy," he added.
He cited as an example the autonomy in hiring workers or employees in municipalities when their expenses do not exceed a certain percentage of their budget, saying that "this has not been achieved today and as a result we have serious operational problems". He also referred to the sponsorship, based, as he said, on legislation, but, he continued, the Ministry of Finance considers that municipalities that have a surplus will not receive or will be cut off from state sponsorship.
Mr. Vyras noted that the surplus may be for the construction of projects or works and what the Ministry of Finance says has not been discussed or agreed. By January, he continued, the President will discuss this issue with the Ministry of Finance, as well as the taxation of municipal real estate. If this tax is implemented, he said, "almost all municipalities will be closed. The President undertook to handle it personally and inform us of the result."
