Emilian ENEV
This is the story of a city that pays for „miracles“, but gets a bad urban environment.
Imagine a city on a big river.
Beautiful, intelligent, with history.
But managed by a very strange company - „Gradski Chudesa“ AD.
It owns everything: streets, sidewalks, green spaces, lamps, trash cans, playgrounds, bridges.
There is no competition, there is no choice. This company is the monopoly of infrastructure and the city's public works.
And what does it do? Of course - first it wants money.
„Give us more, there's no other way…“
Two years ago, the company appeared with a friendly smile and said:
„Taxes are low! How do you want us to fix the streets? Give us more!“
The people - good, patient - did. Taxes, fees and levies were raised with the expectation that the city would really resemble Vienna. Time passed.
The city became like an old car: it thumps, creaks, rattles, but it keeps moving only because its citizens have nerves of steel. Then people realized that the “Miracle” had no right to ask them for more money, and the whole scheme with the increase in fees was illegal.
And exactly then, at the moment when everyone expected at least one sidewalk to be fixed…
The company asked for more again. More taxes. More fees. More burdens for everyone.
But here comes the absurdity…
When you open the warehouse of “Miracles“, you see not miracles, but a tragicomedy.
- Capital program (money to fix the infrastructure and public works): 84.9 million leva.
Implemented? 21%.
That is - 4 out of every 5 leva are sitting around collecting dust.
- Own funds: 11.3 million leva.
Used? 14%.
It's like buying seeds, keeping them in the cupboard and then explaining that there is no tomatoes, because “the people don“t pay enough“.
The people who audited the warehouse were amazed that their tax money was piling up in unused and unutilized chambers.
Loans? Yes - but not for work, but for interest
The company takes out loans for “big projects“ with a specific deadline for the absorption and implementation of the projects. But the company did not know how to manage the funds, constantly increased the deadlines for absorption, and the urban environment deteriorated with each passing month. The money is there, but the streets are not.
And then - the big revelation…
The company comes out to the people again and says:
“The problem is that you pay little. We need more money.“
People look at the city, they look the numbers, look at the dirt, the problems with the ecology and the deteriorated urban environment and say to themselves:
„But how come there is no money, when the money is sitting in accounts and warehouses and no one uses it?“
Nobody can explain.
And behind the allegory a well-known city shines through…
The city in the story is „conditional“.
The company is „fictional“.
But people easily recognize the characters.
Because everyone feels:
This is a fairy tale about a city that looks like Ruse.
About a municipality that wants more taxes, but cannot invest and effectively use what it has already collected.
Final: The Truth in Two sentences.
It is not normal to raise taxes when:
- you do not use the money you have,
- you do not implement the programs you yourself planned,
- you do not manage resources effectively.
Before asking for more money from people, more responsibility must be shown towards people's money.
Because otherwise it is not a program for managing the urban environment, infrastructure and public works. It is not a strategy. It is not an investment.
And absurdity - one of those that no one finds funny anymore.
The text was published on Facebook