TIRANA, July 15- In the four years from 2015 to 2018, the Municipality of Tirana had about 60 billion lek or 490 million euros funds available from collecting taxes and fees, as well as government transfers funds. The Municipality’s own revenues from taxes and fees account for 60 percent of the total, and the rest are conditional and unconditional transfers provided by the government.
The Infrastructure Impact Tax alone has provided the Municipality 11 billion lek (90 million euros) of revenues during the observed period, with the record being in the period 2017-2018 with almost 9 billion lek (73 million euros) collected. This tax has provided the Municipality 18 percent of the total income in four years.
Revenue growth came in two directions, first by raising the cost of the building value from 4 to 8 percent, and therefore increasing the number of permits. In four years the total area of ”‹”‹construction permits is nearly 2 million square meters and a construction value of about 1 billion euros for four years. Then follows the tax on real estate which has brought the municipality in about 50 million euros in four years, or 10 percent of the total funds. At the same levels are the income from green and cleaning fees. The administrative fees follow suit with 32 million euros or 6.7 percent of the total.
Deduction of revenues in 2015-2018 has enabled the Municipality to carry out more expenses, both administrative and capital. The municipal expenditure is almost equal to income, because unlike the central government, local governments do not produce deficits.
The municipality has spent about 15 billion lek (122.5 million euros) in four years for wages, or almost 25 percent of the total. Wage spending has more than doubled compared to previous years, as the increase is mostly related to the new territorial reform which has passed a number of functions at the Municipality.
The current expenditures for wages, maintenance, transportation, travel etc., that the municipality has spent is about 40 billion (327 million euros) in four years, or nearly 66 percent of its total expenditures. The high administrative burden is a phenomenon for all the municipalities in the country.
The expenditure on capital investments is about 21 billion lek (172 million euros), or 34 percent of the revenues it has secured from government taxes and transfers. In comparison with the previous four years, capital spending has almost quadrupled. Half of the capital investment in 2015-2018 has gone for infrastructure and transport projects, 33 percent for public services, about 14 percent for education, etc. An interesting indicator for the Municipality of Tirana is that staff expenditure in four years was as much as 71 percent of the amount spent on public investment in the capital.
