A defamation campaign has been personally organized against the city of Rēzekne and its mayor, which has political goals, the chairman of the Rēzekne council, Aleksandrs Bartaševičs (“Together with Latvia”), said at a press conference on Thursday.
A defamation campaign has been personally organized against the city of Rēzekne and its mayor, which has political goals, the chairman of the Rēzekne council, Aleksandrs Bartaševičs (“Together with Latvia”), said at a press conference on Thursday.
He has repeatedly emphasized that he does not see his fault in any of the issues blamed on him. On the other hand, all the previous decisions of the ministries were based only on general phrases and assumptions that were circulated in the media.
Referring to what was said at the press conference of the Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, Mārs Springdžuks, the mayor of Rēzekne stated that the ministry had requested contract documents for investment objects that worsened the state of the city’s budget. “There aren’t any,” Bartasevic said. In his opinion, all started investment objects would bring income to the city budget. Speaking specifically about the construction project of the recreation center, he noted that this contract is publicly available on the website of the Procurement Supervision Office, where officials can look at it. All the documents requested by the ministry were handed over to the ministry right on time, that is, on September 7.
Bartaševičs also mentioned several times that the Ministry of Finance did not provide any response to Rēzekne’s request for loans. The total amount of loans in relation to the city’s budget revenues does not exceed 20% – that is 18%, and even if loans were granted, the amount of liabilities would not be greater than the law.
The Ministry of Finance will have to answer if it does not act in accordance with the law and the financial situation of the municipality worsens, said Bartasevičs, because there is a possibility that the municipality may have to repay the funds of the European Union.
He also promised to appeal the decision to remove him from his post, if such a decision were to be made. For the time being, there is no visible legal basis for the suspension, however, the decision of the ministry with reasons must be awaited.
The mayor of Rēzekne emphasized that what is happening is only a minor difficulty and after the stabilization process, everything will be in order, only a little reorganization is needed.
As written above, in order to ensure cash flow to cover the budget shortfall and complete the projects, Rēzekne needs six new loans this year for a total amount of 5.73 million euros, which cannot be granted, the FM said.
According to the law “On the state budget for 2023 and the budget framework for 2023, 2024 and 2025”, strict restrictions have been set for municipalities with liabilities exceeding 20% to receive new loans and provide guarantees – only projects co-financed by the European Union for ensuring pre-financing and the municipal council has confirmed that it will be able to fulfill its obligations and make payments that are overdue.
The amount of municipal borrowings and guarantee obligations against the planned basic budget revenues for 2023, including the new planned borrowings, remains very high: according to the information provided by the municipality, it is 17% in 2023, 23.6% in 2024, 21.7% in 2025 , an average of 20.3% in the following four years.
The Ministry of Environment and Regional Development (VARAM) holds the head of Rēzekne city municipality Aleksandar Bartašević (“Together with Latvia”) responsible for the municipality’s financial difficulties, the Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development Māris Sprindžuks (AS) admitted at a press conference on Thursday.
He reminded that he had started the procedure for suspending Bartasevic by sending a letter to the chairman of the Rēzekne City Council, asking him to provide explanations within five days.
The answer to the letter will be expected for five working days, that is, until next Wednesday, September 20. After that, Bartasevic’s answer will have to be evaluated by a special commission, which will also advise the minister on what decision should be made.
Since Thursday is Springjuka’s last working day as a minister, the final decision on whether to fire the mayor of Rēzekne will have to be made by the minister of local governments in the new government.
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