Municipalities in debt no longer belong to the mayors, but to the bailiffs. In the blink of an eye, millions of euros can evaporate from the municipal coffers. "Beware that asphalt is entering your yards", is a well-known phrase of a barsolete created by the logic of asphalt. This asphalt is already up to those who used it for votes. Local governments in many municipalities are suffering the consequences of electoral governance, so on the verge of bankruptcy, some Kosovar municipalities have turned into social cases
In August 2015, the Government of Kosovo allocated 200 euros of funds, which were needed by the Municipality of Shtërpce for debt repayment.
This may not be the only case when the central level will be forced from its coffers to support municipalities in debt. Maybe the Kosovar Executive can face such a situation again, but this time to save the two largest Kosovar municipalities after Prishtina from financial collapse: Prizren and Ferizaj.
Both together have debts created over the years of nearly 8 million euros just from reporting invoices to the Ministry of Finance. But Ferizaj convincingly holds the epithet of the debt champion in all categories with an amount of nearly 37 million euros, while this year's budget of the municipality is nearly 31 million euros. As a result of this financial situation, the project launched by the governing mandate of the LDK for muffins for students of 39 schools has been revised.
From these parameters, this municipality must now completely give up the idea of implementing new projects within this governing mandate, knowing the fact that the entire mandate will be spent paying off old bills of the predecessor government led by the LDK. now opposition in this city.
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But this is nothing new, considering the fact that there was a debt transfer even when PDK lost Ferizaj.
There are at least 3 cases, when the bailiffs have withdrawn the debtors' funds from the municipal coffers, making this institution powerless in the protection of public money. Thus, the municipality has become a double loser: firstly by losing money and secondly by canceling other projects, which cannot be realized due to the budget deficit.
This has transformed the Kosovar municipalities into veresia institutions. Again, the tangle of the financial crisis will be elaborated further. Not having the opportunity to generate other means, being seriously stuck in the collection of personal income, the amount of debts is only carried over and increases progressively from year to year.
What does such a municipality need, immersed in debts and without the possibility to repay them with its own forces. In the economic sense, such a municipality is called bankrupt, and this is exclusively due to the unwillingness of the central government to find the legal formula, which deprives municipalities of the possibility of creating cyclical debts.
Endless debts, created exclusively from the last governing year, which in Kosovar political jargon is called an 'electoral year'. The efforts of each power to change the vote, mainly with asphalt, caused Ferizaj to be formally declared bankrupt. This is best illustrated by the project that has just been launched in this municipality with the very sarcastic name "city union". Conceived to be realized in co-financing between the local and central levels, this project suffered its first failure precisely because of debts. The Ministry of Infrastructure has already taken the responsibility for its realization, as its cost reaches approximately 6 million euros. Whether and how it will end remains unclear.
The Municipality of Prizren is in a slightly softer state with debts. From 2017 alone, this municipality inherited nearly 4 million euros in debt.
Despite this situation, inherited by the man (former president Ramadan Muja), who spent his last mandate in courtrooms, the current management structure of Prizren has foreseen capital investments for 2019 in the amount of nearly 19 million euros, or 4% more more than in fiscal year 2018.
Under the storm of bailiffs, the current mayor of Prizren has tried to protect the municipality by asking economic operators not to request the execution of payments through bailiffs. This municipality is now at the mercy of a task force, which has been charged with the mission of saving the municipality from fiasco.
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But nothing is certain in this plan, until the municipalities in debt no longer belong to the mayors, but to the bailiffs. In the blink of an eye, millions of euros can evaporate from the municipal coffers.
As they are brought into the circle of debts, Kosovar municipalities find it difficult to realize even minor projects, let alone capital ones.
The power built on the primacy of the clientelistic electorate all the time has realized, promised and pledged projects even without possessing the means in practice. This is just enough to have the electoral alibi, which has been used indiscriminately by all the political entities that have governed the Kosovar municipalities.
"Beware that asphalt is entering your yards", is a well-known phrase of a barsolete created by the logic of asphalt. This asphalt is already up to those who used it for votes. Local governments in many municipalities are suffering the consequences of electoral governance, so being on the verge of bankruptcy, many Kosovar municipalities have turned into social cases.
As usually happens, they seek salvation from the budget of the central level, from which they usually try to collect when their subjects are at the helm of the central government.
Before the Kosovar Executive provides financial infusions to the municipalities, a revision of the legal infrastructure is necessary. With these legal changes, it will be possible for the presidents, in the third year of government, not to enter into obligations, which remain the burden of the successor of the post. Therefore, they should not contract three-year projects that will cause a burden on the municipality's budget.
At the same time, the Law on public finances for municipalities should be amended, according to which municipalities would be legally prevented from the risk of financial collapse. This is made possible by building the legal norm, according to which municipalities can enter into budget obligations of 10-30 percent of the total value of the budget for the following year.
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Until this change, Kosovar municipalities will be officially governed by elected mayors, but practically by bailiffs, who will easily donate taxpayers' money to economic operators!