ZMOS: Towns and Villages Should Be Exempt from Fiscal Responsibility Act

Zvolen, 14 April (TASR) - Towns and municipalities should be exempt from the Fiscal Responsibility Act because their share of the public debt is negligible, amounting to less than 2 percent, stated Slovak Towns and Villages Association (ZMOS) chairman Jozef Bozik at a press conference on Tuesday following a meeting of the ZMOS Council in Zvolen (Banska Bystrica region). "This year, we need to ensure that the debt brake and the law governing it exempt towns and municipalities from sanctions, because their share of the public debt is negligible. In fact, it doesn't even reach 2 percent of the total volume," he explained. "We consider the current situation all the more unfair given that our law on budgetary rules for towns and municipalities clearly lays out that we can't allow any town or village to incur a debt exceeding 60 percent of its current revenue," he emphasised, adding that the Budgetary Responsibility Council agrees with such an exemption. According to him, ZMOS is requesting an exemption for local authorities from the debt brake so that towns and municipalities can adopt budgets for 2027 in a standard manner. "There is never any risk, even in the future, that under the current legislation, the debts of towns and villages would jeopardise the debt policy of the entire Slovak Republic," he emphasised. am/df