Valka council to decide on launching municipal financial stabilization process
Valka municipality's council will vote Thursday on starting a financial stabilization process after a request from the Finance Ministry, with the council chairman and opposition offering conflicting assessments.
On Thursday, September 24, at 10:00, the Valka municipality council will hold a session whose final agenda item, number 15, concerns launching a financial stabilization process for the municipality. The matter will be presented by council chairman Vents Armands Krauklis.
The municipality received a letter from the Finance Ministry urging it to begin the stabilization process. Krauklis says the letter was sent directly to all council members by the ministry itself and contained financial data that was two months old, even though the ministry had access to more recent figures. He suggested this could be connected to the upcoming elections — Krauklis himself is running in the 15th Saeima elections on the "Latvia First" list in the Vidzeme constituency.
On Monday, the municipality released a video in which Krauklis and executive director Valdis Šaicāns explained financial measures taken. According to municipal public relations specialist Dace Pūce, the municipality has paid out €109,000 more than envisaged in the cash-flow plan agreed with the ministry, overdue payments have been reduced from €474,000 to €264,000, and the district heating debt is being paid down faster than scheduled. The heating utility has already been transferred to municipal company SIA "Valkas Namsaimnieks," with the water utility planned for transfer next year.
Opposition view
Opposition councillor Agnis Birkavs says the Finance Ministry had already sent a letter to Krauklis back in August, but it was not forwarded to the other councillors — the September letter went directly to councillors' email inboxes. According to Birkavs, the ministry considers the municipality's financial situation to be worsening, while Krauklis claims the opposite. Birkavs notes that the ministry has not yet approved the municipality's stabilization plan, despite the council having voted on it three times.
Birkavs expressed concern that, under stabilization, decisions about the municipality would be made by Finance Ministry experts, and he raised the possibility of significant staff layoffs. He also referred to the decision made earlier this year to close the "Lugažu muiža" community hall, questioning how the situation would be affected by the approaching heating season.
