A. Vasilev promised help to Blagoevgrad, the Ministry of Finance frowns on the huge budget for culture and the many municipal companies – 4VLAST

“An agreement was reached with the support of the Ministry of Finance to implement a program for the stabilization of the municipality of Blagoevgrad,” informed the local administration, after the mayor Metodi Baikushev spoke with the Minister of Finance Asen Vasilev and his team today. As we reported yesterday, Mayor Metodi Baikushev announced at a press conference yesterday that the accounts are in the red.
After today’s meeting, the municipality writes that the Ministry of Finance experts noted that the funds from the municipal budget were disproportionately distributed. Emphasizing the fact that BGN 9.5 million is directed to cultural institutes. Attention was also paid to the numerous municipal enterprises and in-house procedures, which were assessed as a potential source of unregulated outflow of funds.
“The possibility of the municipality of Blagoevgrad requesting additional financing through a loan from the state to cover the financial shortfall of BGN 6.7 million was also commented on. Mayor Baikushev made a commitment that by the end of the year the municipality would collect BGN 3 million from local taxes and fees, which meeting running costs will greatly help. The expiring projects under OPE – Operational Program “Environment” and the projects under “Growth Regions” were discussed.
The possibilities for providing adequate financing for the emblematic ensemble “Pirin” and the Blagoevgrad Chamber Opera, which is one of the 5 such operas in the world, were also commented on. Measures were identified to increase the subsidy to the two cultural institutions in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, including additional funding through state and European programs. A plan will be drawn up for the modernization of the activity and the attraction of additional revenues,” the municipality announced.
At the ministry, Baikushev has put on the table all the financial problems he spoke about yesterday at a briefing. He stated that BGN 6,780,000 in targeted funds are missing, the upcoming payments for the anaerobic installation for bio-waste. According to the estimate presented by the new mayor, the accumulated liabilities are BGN 2.1 million, of which BGN 1.44 million are overdue. BGN 4.32 million are due until the end of November this year. payments, and cash availability is only BGN 480 thousand.

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