Michael Babich indicated the main problems of municipalities in Volga federal district

The Plenipotentiary of the President of Russia in Volga federal district Michael Babich considers the problem of budget balance the main for municipalities of Volga federal district. He said about it at the meeting of the presidium of the provincial consultative council for development of local self-government, held in Nizhniy Novgorod the day before.

The Plenipotentiary has also mentioned that the main instrument for solution of the most important problems in development of local self-government is created – the presidium of the provincial consultative council and four workgroups on the main problems of municipal authority functioning. Normative and legal base, staffing policy, housing-communal services, transport and beautification will be the main directions in activity of these workgroups.

“Representatives of municipalities of all levels, public organizations and experts will be included into the staff of the workgroups. They will examine all proposals – from normative-legal base to managerial decisions – and further they will offer these proposals to discussion by members of the council. After that we start working on these proposals with Russian Government and State Duma” – the Plenipotentiary explained.

“We were talking about budget balance – this is the main problems of our municipalities” – Michael Babich said – “Since the majority of our municipalities are subsidized, the problem of budget balance comes to the foreground: do they have enough money for wages and for solution of other problems, set in the presidential decrees. We were also discussing the work of housing and communal complex, tariffs, transport problems, beautification, problems of staffing policy etc. The whole complex of the problems, standing before local self-government bodies now, will take the form of concrete proposals to be discussed at the federal level”.

The next meeting of the provincial consultative council for municipal development is scheduled on April 2013 and it will be devoted to legal aspects of supply of local self-government with finances and to local budget balance.