The work of parish councils and their accountants will be reorganised in Rezekne municipality

At the meeting of the Rēzekne District Council on 19 April, MEPs approved the report of the local government working groups “on the evaluation of the effectiveness of the administrative structure of the municipality of Latvia” and adopted a decision on the commencement of the reorganisation of the municipal council of the municipality of Rezekne and the accounting reorganisation of the children-youth sports school. The reorganisation of parish administrations will include the change of legal status of existing parish administrations and the reorganisation of existing accounting. By 7 June 2018, the Executive Director of the local government has been ordered to organise the development of the county management and children-youth sports school accountants and submit them for approval in the council of Rezekne District. The reorganisation is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.
The report concludes that the population of the municipality is reduced annually. As a result of the establishment of Rezekne Municipality on 1 July 2009, 32250 residents lived in it, and 27500 inhabitants on 1 January 2018. The population decreased by 867 in 2016 and by 890 people in 2017. Funding from the municipal equalisation fund is also decreasing. In 2018, the minimum monthly salary of 380 was increased in accordance with the Cabinet decision euro to 430 euro, which led to a significant increase in remuneration expenditure in the municipality – around 900000 euro. Also in the National Audit Report, municipal accounting expenditure is considered too high and does not carry out this reorganisation, the local government cannot comply with the national control recommendation without taking such a step.
Total accounting costs of parish administrations per year in 2018 shall be 630293 euroand a child in the youth sports school - eur 8771. By creating 4 parish associations and centralising THE accounting of BJSS, the number of municipalities in the municipality will decrease to – 11 (administration, four parish associations, three special boarding primary schools, three social care institutions' accounting), while the money economy will form approximately 166000 euro parish boards and 8771 euro BJSS budget. The performance of the accounting functions of the children-youth sports school will be assigned to the accounts of the administration without increasing the number of accounting officers of the administration.
In the view of the municipality, such reorganisation is necessary in order to reduce administrative expenditure by shifting the resources saved to improve the municipal area and infrastructure. Reorganisation is based on the creation of a more efficient parish management model. As has been mentioned earlier, the number of parishes in the municipality will remain unchanged, but the so-called deconcentrated administration model will be established. This means that each parish has a separate administration.
When planning changes in the structure of parish administrations, a mandatory prerequisite was that the changes would not worsen the quality and availability of local government services to the residents, ensure the independence of the economic activity of each municipality in accordance with the specified competence.
In early March, four working groups were set up to assess the effectiveness of the administrative structure of the parish administrations, which included executive director, head of finance and accounting department, parish management managers and chief accountants. As observers, the chairpersons of the advisory councils of the parish population took part. In all parishes, public meetings have taken place in which information regarding the reorganisation of the expected parish administrations has been provided. No objections or claims were received from the population.
In the meetings of the working groups, the participants were informed and discussions were held on the situation in the field of accounting, the change in the legal status of parish administrations, the number of necessary accounting posts and employees, the competence of parish administrations after reorganisation, as well as the names and locations of parish associations. The discussion on the names of parish associations and the legal addresses of newly established institutions will continue in both the working groups and the permanent committees of the Council.
Prepared by Diana Selecka