“If the councilors from the PSRM and PAS factions miss the next session and it fails to be closed, it will automatically happen on January 3, 2026,” says Olesia Pshenicki, head of the Chisinau Municipality’s Main Department of Finance. – And we will not have time to submit the drafts “On Approval and Enactment of Local Taxes for 2026” and “On Approval of the Chisinau Municipality Budget for 2026” before the New Year. Although both projects have received a positive opinion from the relevant commission and the City Hall is waiting for them to be included in the agenda. This can still be done before the end of the year and they can be approved at least in the first reading.
The process of approving the budget for 2026 is also hampered by the delay in the adoption of the national public budget. So far, only the first reading of the document has been held in the Parliament. And the municipal budget can be harmonized with the indicators on transfers that the state intends to send to the municipality in 2026, the inflation rate, the national currency exchange rate, etc. only after the second reading.
However, the municipal budget can already be adopted in the first reading, at least with regard to the rates of local fees.
According to the draft, in 2026 they will increase by 4.68% compared to 2024, in accordance with the mechanism of bringing them to the average annual inflation rate. But the rate increase in the amount of annual inflation will not affect all fees. And there are no new levies or areas of economic activity that would be subject to local taxes next year. Real estate and land tax rates will remain at the same level.
In 2026, it is planned to increase the levy for territory improvement from 204 to 214 lei per employee, for parking – from 38 to 40 lei per year per 1 square meter, for advertising devices – from 952 to 996 lei per year per 1 square meter. In case of advertising on a vehicle, a fee of 460 lei per year per 1 sq.m. will be applied.
The fee for sanitary cleaning will remain at the same level – 120 lei per year per individual. As well as the rates for organizing auctions and lotteries, advertising and the use of local symbols. The rates of the market fee, the fee for trade and services, as well as for cab transportation services will be indexed in the amount of inflation.
The draft municipal budget for 2026 envisages 9.6 billion lei in revenues, while the expenses are estimated at 10.7 billion lei. The revenues are 13.6 per cent higher than in 2025. Of these, about 51.6 per cent will be transfers from the state budget (4.9 billion lei), 34 per cent – deductions from state taxes and fees (3.2 billion lei), 11.4 per cent – own revenues (1.1 billion lei).
The main sum will be made up of targeted transfers – for education, social security, financing of sports schools and road infrastructure. Chisinau will also receive transfers from the state budget to finance the Solid Waste Project (89.2 million lei).
The expenditure part of the plan is 19% higher than the one envisaged for 2025. The share of spending on education, culture, health and social protection will exceed 6.1 billion lei. This is 5.6% more than in 2025.
The mayor’s office proposes to allocate 297.4 million lei for capital investments and repair works (1.8% less than in 2025), or about 2.8% of all expenses. For the maintenance of the apparatus and administrative bodies – 4.5%, or about 484.6 million lei – 18.3% more than in 2025. The growth of these expenses is due to the increase in salaries in the budget sector. For investments in the suburbs – 150 million lei. They are allocated depending on the requests of the mayors and according to the projects prepared.
In general, 60% of this budget is social,” Pshenicki said. – Half of the money is spent on education, and 930 million lei on compensations for the bus and trolleybus fleet. These funds are used to cover the costs of free public transportation. There were even proposals to increase the category of free travelers, although the municipality allocates 77 million lei for this purpose every month. Besides, the municipality additionally allocates three lei for children’s food, which is more than 80 million lei per year”.
The municipal budget deficit will exceed 1.1 billion lei in 2026. It will be covered by internal borrowings and issuance of municipal securities (800 million lei), the balance at the beginning of 2026 (172.6 million lei), sale of apartments to the population (2.5 million lei) and others.
As the head of the Chisinau municipality’s Main Finance Department explains, the deficit is due to three large projects, for which the municipality took loans. These are the projects on the rehabilitation of the Buc river and roads, as well as energy efficiency. The construction of new sections of the Mesajer, Industriale and Mircea cel Batryn roads, the continuation of Vasile Lupu Street, Mesterul Manole, Studencilor, etc. is planned in the capital. The energy efficiency project envisages appropriate rehabilitation of 50 kindergartens.
