Heads of municipalities will not be able to earn extra money in local institutions

The Government Commission on Legislative Activities has approved a draft law prohibiting combining the position of the head of a municipality working on a non-permanent basis with other positions in a local self-government body or the position of the head of a municipal institution (enterprise) of this municipality. This was reported to Vedomosti by two participants in the commission’s meeting held on June 5.

Corresponding amendments are made to Part 3.1 of Art. 12.1 of the Law “On Combating Corruption”. The changes were prepared by the Ministry of Justice in pursuance of subparagraph “a” of paragraph 1 of the National Anti-Corruption Plan for 2021-2024, approved by presidential decree of August 16, 2021. The norm will apply to the heads of municipalities elected after the adoption of the law.

The bill is aimed at improving anti-corruption legislation, according to the explanatory note to it. It also states that the draft was prepared on the basis of information from the highest executive bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, according to which, out of 3126 heads of municipalities exercising their powers on a non-permanent basis, 190 combine this position with a position in a local government body or the position of the head of an institution (enterprise) of this municipal education (the latter – 189 out of 190).

Alexei Didenko (LDPR), Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Regional Policy and Local Self-Government, told Vedomosti only that he supported the initiative.

His deputy Mikhail Matveev (KPRF) generally believes that the position of the head of the municipality, by definition, should be only on a permanent basis. “At the same time, in many regions, the heads of municipalities, who head the representative body, exercise their powers on a voluntary basis. At one time, this was pushed through as part of a cost reduction, and as a result, in my opinion, this significantly reduces the quality of work,” the deputy told Vedomosti.

The heads exercise powers on a non-permanent basis in a large part of the municipalities, especially in settlements where, according to the charter, they are the chairmen of the council of deputies, says political lawyer Oleg Molchanov. The administrations there are run by hired heads (city managers), who are elected by the deputies through a competition. “The chairman of the council (head) can hold this position on an unreleased basis and often works in the executive branch (for example, the director of the MUP). The innovations are designed to eliminate such a conflict of interest, when the head of the council, on the one hand, as the director of the municipal unitary enterprise, is a subordinate of the city manager, and on the other hand, must evaluate the quality of the work of the same city manager as the head of the council,” the expert explained to Vedomosti.

There is no obvious corruption component in combining positions as the head of a municipality, but it can cause “curvature” in the distribution of budget funds, says Andrey Maksimov, member of the Public Chamber of Russia, chairman of the commission on territorial development and local self-government. “Apparently, in order to avoid excessive tug-of-war by the head in the direction of his institution and lobby for disproportionate funding of one enterprise to the detriment of others, these amendments were initiated,” he told Vedomosti.