A pothole, a bump, a rut or a protruding rail damage a car. The insurer pays for the repairs and then seeks the money from the Sofia Municipality. If the dispute reaches court and continues for years, interest, attorney fees, and legal costs are added to the compensation.
In this way, the conditional "hole tax" that the driver first pays with expensive repairs is subsequently covered again - this time from the public budget, reports bTV.
Over the past five years, the Sofia Municipality has paid 1,774,368.26 euros in lawsuits for property damage caused by defects in the road infrastructure.
This amount includes compensation for the property damage caused, legal interest until final payment, legal costs, and costs of enforcement cases. The information is for the period January 1, 2021 - August 21, 2026.
The amount does not necessarily cover only proceedings concluded during the five-year period in question. The municipality specifies that it also includes payments in older cases, if the money was actually transferred in the relevant years.
Separately, during the period in question, the Municipality was convicted in a total of 952 cases worth 1,046,232.74 euros.
This amount includes compensation for property damage, default interest, legal costs and costs in enforcement cases. However, the statutory interest, which is accrued from the date of filing the claim until the final payment, when due, is not included.
For this reason, the value of the convictions and the amount actually paid by the municipality cannot be compared mechanically. The payments also include cases that were concluded earlier, as well as interest, which is not fully included in the stated value of the decisions.
However, the data show that the convictions average nearly 200 per year, and the bill continues to grow.
As of the date of the provided report, 267 more legal proceedings are underway against the Sofia Municipality for similar damages. Their final financial result is not yet known. If some of the claims are upheld, legal interest and legal costs may again be added to the compensation.
Thus, any delay not only postpones the resolution of the dispute, but may also increase the amount that will ultimately be paid from the municipal budget.
The municipality does not maintain data on the number of invitations received for voluntary out-of-court payment, because as a public budgetary institution it makes such payments only on "undisputed legal grounds" - an effective judicial act that is subject to execution.
In practice, this means that even when a car owner or his insurer files a claim, payment from the municipal budget usually comes only after a court procedure. And with it come additional costs.
This is not a matter of isolated cases, but of a significantly larger financial problem.
First, citizens pay for the construction and maintenance of roads through their taxes. Then they bear the repair, insurance or the risk of being left with a damaged car. And when the court establishes the municipality's liability, the public budget covers the compensation, interest and costs.
Such an unsecured hole can be paid for more than once. And while 267 cases are still pending, the final bill for Sofia's "tax hole" is still growing.