site.btaMayoralty Mayors Press On for Rural Financial Decentralisation

The organization continues its demands for financial decentralization of villages, meaning an independent budget for each settlement, not funds in shared municipal coffers, National Association of Mayors of Mayoralties Chairman and Mayor of the southern town of Bryagovo, Delcho Mitev, told a news conference hosted by the BTA Press Club in the southern city of Haskovo.

We cannot pursue policies and deliver on promises made to voters without such financial security. It is a long-standing goal of ours, Mitev explained, noting that the lack of it makes the figure of the elected mayor largely meaningless. He said the association will take steps to raise this issue with the new Parliament and Government in early September.

Mitev did not rule out at some point to raise the issue of the mandate of rural mayors alongside the municipal ones, although such a proposal has not yet been presented in the course of the debates on amendments to the Constitution.

Mitev also said that the presence of law enforcement in the villages is also one of the sore points. It is also related to the issue of crop protection. The unannounced checks in the village by the law enforcement authorities are very effective, unlike the current pre-announced visit schedules, said Mitko Valchev, mayor of the village of Dositeevo, in the vicinity of Harmanli.

Another serious issue, according to Mitev, is also the provision of medical services to the population in the villages.