Kosice Declares State of Crisis over Its Finances (2)

Kosice, December 1 (TASR) - The City of Kosice has declared a state of crisis over its unfavourable financial situation, mayor of Kosice Jaroslav Polacek announced after an extraordinary session on Thursday (November 30) involving a financial crisis team and city chief controller Pavol Gallo, TASR learnt from the city authority website on Friday. Hence, as of next year, the city will be governed on a provisional budget. According to Gallo, in practice this will mean radical cuts to all regular expenditures apart from resources allocated to running the city's essential needs. "The same will apply for the operations of the city authority and city-owned enterprises in order to make savings as soon as possible, especially on the operational and salary side of costs," stated the city authority. Apart from losses of income due to state-enacted measures, Kosice blames its budgeting problems on the fact that the city council has repeatedly rejected a proposal to increase charges for communal waste disposal, school facilities and property taxes that were projected to net city coffers €25 million. The expected deficit stands at €44 million. The city management plans to submit a proposal for specific and extensive cuts to the city council on December 12. mf/df