Mayors propose eliminating district councils
This was announced by 23 out of 25 mayors of Ialoveni district within the consultations organized by the State Chancellery on the forthcoming local government reform. The mayors approved a statement in which they conceptually support the idea of voluntary unification. At the same time, the MPs are against normative (forced) unification, which they consider a clear violation of the principles of local democracy, and propose the liquidation of district councils.
Along with a more efficient procedure of voluntary unification, Ialoveni district mayors consider it necessary to introduce several mechanisms that would allow villages to develop more actively.
… and strengthen local autonomy
First, for the purpose of financial decentralization, the tax on the income of the inhabitants of settlements should be levied at their place of residence, and not at their place of work, as it happens today. This demand has been voiced by representatives of local authorities for many years, but so far the Ministry of Finance has explained the impossibility of implementing this measure by technical reasons. Secondly, they propose that the share of VAT and tax on income from entrepreneurial activity in the amount of at least 30% should be transferred not to the state, but to local budgets. According to the mayors, this will strengthen their autonomy.
In addition, the mayors insist on the rapid digitalization of services, as well as solving problems related to the registration of local government property.
In the context of European integration activities and programs in which the role of local authorities is high, they consider it necessary to approve the Regulation on co-financing and prepayment for projects financed from EU funds. At the same time, access to projects should not be discriminatory. The current approach based on population size creates unequal conditions. The same principle should be applied when creating clusters. The mayors believe that in both cases it is necessary to eliminate the existing quantitative thresholds.
