Town Halls Face COVID-19: Main Challenges and Solutions in Managing Local Budgets
Automatically translated summary. The full article is available in Romanian.
The Independent Think Tank “Expert-Grup”, in partnership with the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE), held information meetings with beneficiary town halls under the “My Budget” initiative in the North, Centre, South and Gagauzia regions of Moldova. The meetings examined the problems local authorities face during the coronavirus crisis.
The meetings identified areas with the greatest difficulties and heightened risks for public services and utilities. The experts recommend that the Ministry of Finance and the State Chancellery design an emergency lending programme for utility operators and resolve the repayment of investment loan instalments.
First-tier local authorities spent resources on emergency needs that fall under other levels of government, so compensatory payments are proposed, along with an electronic platform to estimate voluntary aid given to hospitals. Many town halls exhausted their reserve funds and should rebuild them. The summary also urges promoting online payments and billing, a wider discussion of lessons learned for decentralisation, and greater transparency on how international donations received by central authorities are distributed.
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