Dissatisfied with the draft budget of 2025/ Fisnik Qosja asks for additional money for municipalities

2024-11-13 12:58:00, Aktualitet CNA

Dissatisfied with the draft budget of 2025/ Fisnik Qosja asks for additional

The President of the Association of Local Elected Members, Fisnik Qosja, has requested an addition to the budget for municipalities from national taxes.

Qosja emphasizes that the division does not meet the needs of municipalities, especially for those with limited economy, for small and mountainous municipalities and especially those in the poorest areas in the north, but also in the south, as well as coastal municipalities that face flows in the industry. tourism.

Among other things, Qosja demands that the conditional funds for Regional development be allocated according to the priorities of the municipalities and not according to central decisions.

Position of the Association of Local Elected Members on the 2025 budget

The Local Elected Association appreciates the fact that honest Albanian taxpayers have paid taxes and tax obligations for 2024, ensuring an increase in the budget that will be used for 2025.

But from the analysis and consultations made by the staff of the Association of Local Elected, we present these issues that we think contribute to the strengthening of municipalities and the improvement of local public services.

Although the 13.2% increase in the local budget for 2025 is presented as positive, we as the ASSOCIATION OF LOCAL ELECTED OFFICERS judge that more budget can and should be allocated to municipalities from national taxes.

1. For us as an association, the division does not meet the needs of the municipalities, especially for those with limited economy, for small and mountainous municipalities and especially those in the poorest areas in the north, but also in the south, also the coastal municipalities that face flows in the tourism industry. Therefore, we request that the budget from the unconditional transfer from 1% of GDP goes to at least 1.5%.

2. We as an association request a budget for performance grants to be given priority in the forest and pasture sector in municipalities that have strategic priority in this sector.

3. Funding of transferred functions - We request a 10% increase in the budget for irrigation, drainage, dams and rural roads.

4. We suggest an additional budget for the 11 coastal municipalities dedicated to tourism and the environment.

5. We, as associations of local elected officials, in consultation with elected officials in all 61 municipalities of the country, request that funds conditional on Regional Development be allocated according to the priorities of the municipalities and not according to central decisions.

6. We, as the Association of Local Elected Members, are committed to increasing accountability, efforts to be as transparent as possible in our decision-making and inter-institutional cooperation. We hope that our requests will be taken into consideration by the parliament and the government./ CNA