PUBLIC FINANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT
27.06.2014
"Local self-government and territorial autonomy are inefficiently running public funds pay with no legal basis, did not established internal audit, or issued commercial space for lease in a non corruptive way, and do not apply international standards in business." These are just some of the conclusions contained in the "Analysis of the reports of the State Audit Institution in connection with the work of local self-government and territorial autonomy," which was presented to the participants of the conference "Improving public financial management at the local level" in Belgrade's Sava Center. The event was organized by the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, as partners in the project "Improving accountability mechanism in the field of public finance", implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the State Audit Institution, and funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
The conference, which brought together mayors, mayors and representatives of relevant government institutions, was also attended by Boban Džunić, president of Municipality of Palilula in Nis.
Radoslav Sretenović, President of the State Audit Institution, which has so far conducted 59 audit reports, pointed out that the key problems are reflected in the inefficient use of public resources, inefficient management of public assets, insufficient respect for the laws, regulations and procedures, which clearly indicates the absence of public accountability. "It has been observed that a large number of public revenue are collected from other sources, thus avoiding their budget spending," said Sretenović. He concluded that it is of utmost importance that the mayors and municipal mayors understand the substance and gravity of the irregularities for which they are responsible for the commanders for execution. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State Administration and Local government Kori Udovicki stressed that the core problems are the lack of a binding system of planning, lack of coordination, and lack of oversight over what we do. "At the level of local government, these problems are much more complex due to non-compliance competence, priorities and capacities', said Udovički. 'The method of financing the various levels of government is one of the five priorities of the Ministry of Finance', said Finance Minister Lazar Krstic. He announced that by the end of July draft law on local government finance will be completed, and the law will be adopted in September or October. The importance of passing this law is very large because one-eighth of the total revenues in the state budget are generated at the local level. "When a law is passed in the municipality, it will be able to plan a budget for next year," said Krstic. . President of SCTM and the Mayor of Nis, Prof. Dr. Zoran Perisic said he had to change the attitude towards what is public property. In Nis, between the adoption of two laws on legalization of buildings, there were 6500 constructed. That is why the city's budget withheld for two annual budgets, explained Perisic. Jurg Štaudenman, Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP pointed out that the introduction of the program budget, and the laws on the financing of local governments are an opportunity to strengthen the management of public funds. He said that the UNDP will continue to collaborate with institutions in Serbia throughout the next year, in order to improve the situation at the central and local governments. Djordje Staničić, Secretary General of the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, said that the role of SCTM primarily focused on supporting the improvement of financial management and control at the local level. Government of Sweden for this program of support to the project "Improving accountability mechanism in the field of public finance" in Serbia has allocated 2,328,318 dollars.