Trencin mayor Richard Rybnicek was re-elected as Slovak Towns Union (UMS) president at the 37th UMS congress, Banska Bystrica mayor and UMS vice-president Jan Nosko announced at a news conference following the congress on Tuesday, adding that the UMS's decision was unanimous.
Rybnicek at the news conference presented the UMS's proposal for changes in financing of local government. "We've submitted a proposal and will be ready for a discussion on changing the financing [of local government]," he said, adding that the current model of local government's financing is becoming unsustainable for Slovak municipalities.
"We demand that all taxes generated within the towns and villages remain in them. That is an absolutely basic model. Another model that we want is for the state, and especially the Finance Ministry, to set the minimum tax power of each municipality based on mathematical calculations," said Rybnicek.
According to the UMS, 100 percent of the personal income tax revenue should remain in towns and villages. "Today we receive only a part of it. We think that Slovak towns and villages should get the whole 100 percent of personal income tax," stated the UMS president, adding that Slovak towns must be independent from the central government.
Rybnicek in the name of UMS asked all political representatives who have the ambition to question in any way Slovkia's anchoring in the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) not to do so, speaking about the need to calm down the situation in society.
"Eighty percent of all investments we have in Slovak towns today is EU money. Without this money we wouldn't be able to develop our towns to the level they are and without this money we would be just poor relations," stressed Rybnicek.
In the context of the EU's post-2027 cohesion policy programming period, the UMS will advocate for the principle of subsidiarity to be maintained. It rejects any centralisation of funds. "We insist on further earmarking of funds for urban development," he added.
The UMS also called on the government, headed by Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD), to
allocate funds for local authorities in connection with the increased costs of salaries of employees in education and €800 bonuses for public administration employees.
Source: TASR
