Municipalities want to steer – Newspaper Kommersant No. 35 (7480) dated 03/01/2023

The faction of the Communist Party in the Moscow City Duma held a round table on Tuesday on the topic of improving the efficiency of local self-government bodies (LSG). Municipal deputies talked about their problems and suggested ways to solve them – for example, oblige officials to submit detailed cost estimates to local councils for approval, empower deputies to control budget spending and force heads of governments to report on this. The powers of the capital’s deputies are quite enough, but some changes in the framework of the upcoming municipal reform are still possible, the expert believes.

To begin with, the moderator of the round table, the leader of the Communist Party faction in the Moscow City Duma (MGD), Nikolai Zubrilin, announced the preparation of amendments to federal legislation, according to which the quorum for meetings of municipal councils can be set at 50% of their number. This allows one half of the deputies to overrule the decisions made by the other half, Mr. Zubrilin explained, which is why the Communists are proposing a quorum of 50% plus one vote.

After that, deputies from various districts of Moscow spoke about the main problems they face in their work. MP from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Maxim Zharkov (Bibirevo) complained that the municipalities, although they agree on budgetary expenditures in the housing sector, cannot control their implementation. In addition, officials submit to the deputies for approval information on expenditures in a general form, without a specific estimate. Once the council was asked to agree on the repair of a canopy over the entrance at a cost of more than 1 million rubles, Mr. Zharkov gave an example: “I must understand what I am voting for. The canopy over the entrance for a million raises many questions. He proposed to legislate the ability of deputies to control the expenditure of budgetary funds, to oblige the heads of administrations to report on spending and in advance, and not a day before the meeting, submit detailed cost estimates to the deputies for familiarization.

Andrey Voronkov, a deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation from Khamovniki, complained that inquiries to the Moscow Architecture Committee on urban planning issues often receive answers that the issue is not within the competence of municipal deputies. On the whole, according to Mr. Voronkov, the powers of LSG in Moscow have been reduced to a “decorative function”. Recall that now the Moscow law on local self-government says that municipal deputies can partially resolve issues of improvement, overhaul and district holidays, carry out work on the military-patriotic education of citizens, dispose of municipal property. District deputies have repeatedly submitted bills to the Moscow City Duma to expand their powers, but so far they have not been adopted.

In turn, Mikhail Timonov, deputy of the Moscow State Duma from A Just Russia, said that to date, only two councils (in the Kurkino and Gagarinsky districts) have not renounced their powers to organize the work of commissions for minors, guardianship, guardianship and patronage, activities in areas of sports, leisure and youth policy, which were transferred to them back in the “zero” years. Then the new federal law on local self-government allowed cities of federal significance, for the sake of “preserving the unity of the urban economy”, not to create administrations in municipalities, but to transfer part of state powers in these areas to them. The districts of Moscow received such powers in 2005-2007, but after 2010 they began to refuse them, citing a desire to focus on local problems, and in 2013 this process became massive.

Also, the participants of the round table again raised the issue of the unique situation in the capital, where in each municipal district there are, in fact, two parallel authorities: the district council and the council of deputies. These are also two budgets for the maintenance of the apparatus, Nikolai Zubrilin emphasized. He recalled that the Communist Party of the Russian Federation proposed to change this situation – for example, to rename the councils in the administration and make the position of their head elective. So far, their demands have not been heard, but the communists will continue to work in this direction, Mr. Zubrilin assured.

According to political scientist Alexander Asafov, the powers of LSG will be changed as part of the upcoming reform, which is laid down by the new federal law on public authority. “Now everyone is waiting for the reform, and the inclusion of this issue on the agenda (of the round table.— “b”) is an attempt to make suggestions on this topic,” the expert believes. In Moscow, according to him, the local self-government system works quite effectively, and the refusal of municipal deputies from some of their powers in favor of the city is confirmation that they already have enough functions without it. At the same time, political unity is felt in the new councils elected in 2022, many issues are resolved in a coordinated and prompt manner, deputies do not use their status to politicize problems, Mr. Asafov notes: “I don’t see any problems of lack of authority among municipal deputies in Moscow as such , but I think that some changes with the upcoming municipal reform should be expected.”

Elena Rozhkova