The Sofia Municipality is laying off 50 employees from the "Municipal Revenue" Directorate, including a woman in advanced pregnancy, announced at a briefing at the Sofia Municipal Council (SOC) independent municipal councilor Vanya Grigorova, quoted by BNT.
Yesterday, the Sofia Municipality announced that they are introducing a new management structure, which will come into effect from February 1, 2026, without increasing the number of the administration and minimal layoffs are planned – below 5 percent, mainly in the "Municipal Revenues" Directorate, as a result of the digitalization of services.
Grigorova said today that several times the Mayor of Sofia Vasil Terziev proposed a change in the structure of the Municipality, which was not approved by the Council. In all these cases, I voted for the change so that Terziev would not have an excuse that the work of the Municipality was being purposefully obstructed by someone, Grigorova pointed out. It turns out that the results, even before the new structure came into force, are very harmful and have a very heavy social cost, she added.
According to her, it is untrue that the layoffs in the administration are only 5%. In the "Municipal Revenues" Directorate, the layoffs are 20%. About 50 employees from the administration, which generates the revenues necessary for the functioning of the capital, are being laid off, Grigorova pointed out. She emphasized that from today to tomorrow, people who have just a few months left until retirement and pregnant women are being laid off, which is prohibited by the Civil Servant Act and the Labor Code.
Over the past year, the "Municipal Revenues" Directorate has generated almost 100 million leva more revenue. They not only collect local taxes and fees, but also process about one million files annually - these are declarations, certificates, tax assessments, slips from the Center for Urban Mobility and the Sofia Inspectorate.
"Everything the mayor boasts about is done by municipal employees, who are also civil servants," said Grigorova.
She reported on a case with an employee of "Municipal Revenues" in the "Slatina" region - a woman in advanced pregnancy was fired "from today to tomorrow". No one has the right to lay off a pregnant woman, said Grigorova.
It is unacceptable for 50 people from "Municipal Revenue" to be laid off and at the same time a new PR and marketing department with 11 people to be opened in it. Vanya Grigorova said that she does not underestimate the role of the PR of the Sofia Municipality, but according to her "11 people already look as if someone is hiring a troll farm in the Sofia Municipality".
The laid-off employee of "Municipal Revenue" Elizabet Asenova told the media today in SOS that on January 27 she went to work and around noon from "Human Resources" she was fired without notice.